Jarkko Nieminen bounced back to advance at the 2011 BNP Paribas Open
World number 51, Finn Jarkko Nieminen bounced back against world number 55, Uzbek Denis Istomin defeating him 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Thursday.
Istomin recently showed prowess when he reached the quarter-finals at San Jose before losing to top seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. However, he was ousted in early rounds at Brisbane, Sydney,
Memphis and the Australian Open.
Coming into this match, the 24-years-old Istomin was on fire right from the start. He showed tremendous skills to break Nieminen’s serve three times and had a better first serve percentage of 77
percent as compared to Finn’s 53 percent. He also registered an amazing 71 percent win on it. The 29-years-old Nieminen on the other hand played poorly. He was only able to save one break point and double faulted twice.
The Finn so far hasn’t had much progress this season but he quickly re-focused himself to the match. He broke Istomin’s serve in the very first game and took the lead. Istomin broke back in the following
game but the Finn broke Uzbek's serve again to take the lead. Istomin broke back in the tenth game and levelled the score 5-5. Istomin fired five aces, saved five break points and had a much better first serve percentage. But this wasn’t enough to hold the
raging Finn back who once again took the lead by breaking Istomin’s serve in the proceeding game. He held his serve in the final game to clinch with the score line of 7-5.
In the final set, both players reached their top form as they exchanged three breaks to level the score at 5-5. Despite double faulting three times and having a slightly lower first serve percentage
of 64 percent as opposed to Istomin’s 68 percent; the Finn took the lead by breaking Uzbek’s serve again in the next game. Later he held his serve to win with a similar 7-5 score. Istomin saved three break points but it wasn’t enough as he only earned a poor
38 percent win on his first serve.
The Finn moves on ahead to play 23rd seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes. The Spaniard, a seeded player, received an automatic bye in the second round.
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