Other weekend sport in brief
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Finnish pro golfer Mikko Ilonen continued his vein of good form at the weekend with a solid performance in the Welsh Open at Celtic Manor. In an open contest, Ilonen finished in tied 6th place on -11, two strokes behind the winner Richard Sterne of South Africa.
It was an almost perfect warm-up for the final qualifying rounds for the US Open, which will be played today at Walton Heath near London.
In fact, Ilonen could have been even nearer to the top of the leaderboard in Wales, but for a slightly disappointing third round of 70, which was one over on the short Celtic Manor course, which has an unusual par of 69.
He had slipped to 21st as the final day opened, but a nearly flawless round of 63 with seven birdies and one bogie on the card saw him shoot back to the top ten. In 2002 Ilonen was third in the same tournament in one of his first big successes on the European Tour.
The past fortnight has seen Ilonen earn more than EUR 220,000 in prize money - more than he made in the last year as a whole (or any other year for that matter).
He is now 40th in the European Tour Order of Merit rankings, with tournament earnings so far this year of EUR 308,000, including an all-important maiden European Tour victory in Indonesia in February. He also collected a cool EUR 90,000 for a day's work last week when winning a skills competition held prior to the Welsh Open.
In tennis, Jarkko Nieminen's run at the French Open in Paris went no further than the third round, where he was beaten in four sets (6-1, 3-6, 5-7, 2-6) by 14th seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Nieminen, who was seeded 20th at Roland Garros, got off to a great start and thrashed the Australian former world No.1 in the first set. He even held a break and a 2-1 lead in the second, but thereafter the never-say-die Hewitt got his service back on track and ground out the important points in what was by all accounts an entertaining match.
Nieminen collects around EUR 40,000 and 75 ATP points from his involvement in Paris, but probably equally valuable is the boost to his sagging self-confidence after he showed much-improved form in the early rounds, where he did not drop a set.
Hewitt will face tournament favourite and 2nd seed Rafael Nadal of Spain in today's 4th round match. Nadal is a two-time winner of the French Open, and has beaten Hewitt in both their previous encounters on clay, a surface the Spaniard relishes above all others.
Finland's volleyball team received a lesson in the sport from World and Olympic Champions Brazil on Saturday, going down 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20) in their World League encounter in Cuiabá.
It was a second defeat to the Brazilians in two days, after the Finns succumbed 3-1 on Friday.
After four matches in Pool A, which also features South Korea and Canada, the Finns have just one win and three defeats. They beat Canada in one of their two away matches.
The league continues next weekend with two more games against Canada, at home this time, followed by a pair against South Korea at home, two more games with the Koreans away, and finally the arrival of the all-conquering Brazilians for two matches at the end of this month.
The Finns will need to improve their record if they want to progress to the finals in Poland in mid-July. Nevertheless, with only one from each of the four groups going through automatically, few would bet against Brazil, who are unbeaten so far, even though South Korea pushed them hard in one of their two encounters. Just one of the 2nd-placed teams will also qualify with a wild card entry to the finals.
It was an almost perfect warm-up for the final qualifying rounds for the US Open, which will be played today at Walton Heath near London.
In fact, Ilonen could have been even nearer to the top of the leaderboard in Wales, but for a slightly disappointing third round of 70, which was one over on the short Celtic Manor course, which has an unusual par of 69.
He had slipped to 21st as the final day opened, but a nearly flawless round of 63 with seven birdies and one bogie on the card saw him shoot back to the top ten. In 2002 Ilonen was third in the same tournament in one of his first big successes on the European Tour.
The past fortnight has seen Ilonen earn more than EUR 220,000 in prize money - more than he made in the last year as a whole (or any other year for that matter).
He is now 40th in the European Tour Order of Merit rankings, with tournament earnings so far this year of EUR 308,000, including an all-important maiden European Tour victory in Indonesia in February. He also collected a cool EUR 90,000 for a day's work last week when winning a skills competition held prior to the Welsh Open.
In tennis, Jarkko Nieminen's run at the French Open in Paris went no further than the third round, where he was beaten in four sets (6-1, 3-6, 5-7, 2-6) by 14th seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Nieminen, who was seeded 20th at Roland Garros, got off to a great start and thrashed the Australian former world No.1 in the first set. He even held a break and a 2-1 lead in the second, but thereafter the never-say-die Hewitt got his service back on track and ground out the important points in what was by all accounts an entertaining match.
Nieminen collects around EUR 40,000 and 75 ATP points from his involvement in Paris, but probably equally valuable is the boost to his sagging self-confidence after he showed much-improved form in the early rounds, where he did not drop a set.
Hewitt will face tournament favourite and 2nd seed Rafael Nadal of Spain in today's 4th round match. Nadal is a two-time winner of the French Open, and has beaten Hewitt in both their previous encounters on clay, a surface the Spaniard relishes above all others.
Finland's volleyball team received a lesson in the sport from World and Olympic Champions Brazil on Saturday, going down 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20) in their World League encounter in Cuiabá.
It was a second defeat to the Brazilians in two days, after the Finns succumbed 3-1 on Friday.
After four matches in Pool A, which also features South Korea and Canada, the Finns have just one win and three defeats. They beat Canada in one of their two away matches.
The league continues next weekend with two more games against Canada, at home this time, followed by a pair against South Korea at home, two more games with the Koreans away, and finally the arrival of the all-conquering Brazilians for two matches at the end of this month.
The Finns will need to improve their record if they want to progress to the finals in Poland in mid-July. Nevertheless, with only one from each of the four groups going through automatically, few would bet against Brazil, who are unbeaten so far, even though South Korea pushed them hard in one of their two encounters. Just one of the 2nd-placed teams will also qualify with a wild card entry to the finals.
Helsingin Sanomat