2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, David Ferrer to take on Jarkko Nieminen
World number six, David Ferrer, returns to the ATP Tour on Tuesday as the third seed at the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. Playing in its 38th edition this year, the event is the first ATP 500 level tournament of the season.
Played on indoor hard courts, the event is held annually at the Ahoy Rotterdam indoor sporting arena.
A specialist on clay, Ferrer’s recent performance has suggested that the Spaniard is capable of performing well on hard court as well. Opening his season at the 2011 Heineken Open in Auckland, Ferrer made it all the way to the final where he defeated David
Nalbandian to clinch his first title of the year.
His second tournament of the season was the Grand Slam Down Under. Seeded seventh in the event, Ferrer made it all the way to the semi-final doing away with world number one, Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
However, the Spaniard was ousted in the semi-finals by eventual runner up, Andy Murray.
Standing at an impressive 9-1 win loss mark for the year so far, Ferrer begins his campaign at Rotterdam on Tuesday playing Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
This week marks the Spaniard’s fifth year here having debuted back in 2006. His career best at the event came in 2007 when he made it past Christophe Rochus and Kristof Vliegen before losing to Mikhail Youzhny. His last run here was stopped short in the
second round, again by Youzhny.
His opponent, Nieminen on the other hand is appearing at the event for the sixth time with his debut being in 2003. His debut run at the event was as far as the second round when he was ousted by Raemon Sluiter.
The Finn’s career best at the event came in 2006 when he made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Rochus. Absent from the event for the last two years, Finn’s 2008 run here ended abysmally with a first round exit to Fernando Verdasco in straight
sets.
Playing in his third tour level event of the season, Nieminen started the season at the 2011 Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Making it into the second round, Nieminen was ousted from the event by eventual finalist Nikolay Davydenko.
A week later, Nieminen participated at the Sydney event. However, an injury forced him to retire halfway through his first round match against Frederico Gil.
As luck would have it, Nieminen’s run at the Grand Slam Down Under was stopped in the first round by none other than Ferrer. This was the pair’s first tour meeting. Already leading the head to head 1-0, Ferrer is expected to extend his lead to 2-0 after
Tuesday’s meeting.
Prediction: Not only is Ferrer ranked much higher than Nieminen his recent performance gives him the edge along with the statistical c*m psychological advantage he already enjoyed. Ferrer will probably move past the Finn in straight sets
with minimal game losses. Nieminen would need major luck on his side if he looks to upset the Spaniard.
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