Nieminen/Kohlmann progress into semi-finals after Ljubicic withdrawal

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Aided by a little luck, Finland's tennis No.1 Jarkko Nieminen seems to have run into a purple patch in Melbourne, after he was dumped out of the Australian Open singles last week.
      In the men's doubles he and his 36-year-old German partner Michael Kohlmann are now into the semi-finals of a grand slam tournament - a first for Nieminen and Kohlmann alike.
     
The Finn readily acknowledged that luck was on their side last night, as the opponents Fernando Gonzales (Chile) and Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) were forced to retire after an injury to Ljubicic's thigh made playing on impossible.
      The match came to a premature end in the third set, after Nieminen/Kohlmann had lost the first set 6-4 and won the second 6-1.
      The Finnish-German pair were 2-0 and a break of service up in the third set when Ljubicic called it quits.
     
"It has been great playing with Michael. I have known him for many years, but this is the first time we have played together as a pair. This is great practice for later tournaments this season", said a delighted Nieminen, who will also not be displeased with the windfall of at least AUS 112,000 paid to the pair for reaching the last four.
     
The next opponents will certainly not make life easy for Nieminen and Kohlmann, as they must face either the world's best pairing of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan (USA), the top seeds in the tournament and the Australian Open champions from 2006, 2007, and 2009, or alternatively the pair who somehow manage to stop them in their tracks.
      The Bryans play the unseeded duo of Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram from the United States later today (Tuesday).
      Under normal circumstances the Bryan brothers would probably be hot favourites to go through, but this tournament has not been particularly kind to seeds - Butorac/Ram dismissed the 7th seeds in their 2nd.round victory, and only three of the 16 seeded pairings survived into the last eight of the competition.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ousted from singles, Jarkko Nieminen marches on in men´s doubles at Australian Open (25.1.2010)

Links:
  Australian Open: Jarkko Nieminen

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