Nieminen topples top seed in Poland

Jarkko Nieminen

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Jarkko Nieminen scored a morale-boosting victory on Tuesday in the first round of the EUR 425,000 Idea Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland. Facing the top seed Mariano Puerta of Argentina, Nieminen disposed of his opponent in just an hour and 44 minutes, winning 6-4, 7-6 [7-1].
      Puerta's scalp was a welcome first: this was the first time in his career that Nieminen had put out the top-seeded player in an ATP tournament, and Puerta is listed at No. 11 on the ATP rankings and was also the beaten finalist at this year's French Open at Roland Garros. The left-handed Finn will also be doubly pleased for having come back from 5-2 down in the second set to take victory in the tie-break.
     
The win suggests Nieminen (ranked 54th in the world) is coming into a decent streak of form - he was a semi-finalist in Stuttgart a fortnight ago, losing to the eventual winner Rafael Nadal, who was also Puerta's conqueror in Paris.
      Now he will face unseeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain [ATP - 83] in the second round, and if he comes through that encounter he is likely to meet the 5th seed, Filippo Volandri of Italy. The Sopot tournament is being played on clay, which has thus far been among Nieminen's favourite surfaces.


Links:
  ATP Jarkko Nieminen

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