Jarkko Nieminen downs Alexandr Dolgopolov to move into 3rd round – German Tennis Championships 2011
The Rothenbaum Tennis Court at Hamburg, Germany welcomed the 2nd round match of the German Tennis Championships 2011 between Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in a 3 setter match to the 3rd round.
The match was played on classic clay courts.
Jarkko, currently at world No.55, turned pro at the age of 17 in the year 2000. The left hander had his high times in 2006 as he was the worlds No.13 best player. The 29 year-old has already played one match and a crucial one against
the Ukrainian international at the Marrakech challenger final in March 2010.
On the other hand, Alexandr Dolgopolov has been not so impressive against the World No.55. Ranked at world No. 27, the 22 year-old Ukrainian, seems to be more of a clay court player statistically, than a hard court one. However,
every player has his worst moments.
Starting the match with his serve, Jarkko led the score card 1-0 after game 1. Soon after, Alexandr followed to equal the score to 1-1. The sequential wins of both players led the scores to 4-3 with the Ukrainian to serve for the
next game. Jarkko won a stunner breakpoint to lead and eventually end up the set 6-3 gaining a 1-0 set lead.
The former world No.20, Alexandr, served first for the second set and opened up strong to win the first game 1-0. Winning a breakpoint from Jarkko’s serve and the next, the Ukrainian brought up an astonishing 3-0 comeback in the
second set. The Finnish international finally broke the scorecard for him as he won his only game of the set to make it 1-3. The 22 year-old Ukrainian slammed the next three games and the set 6-1 to level it off with the Finn international 1-1.
The final battle was as intensifying as ever. Starting with a breakpoint the 22-year-old took the first three games including two breakpoints to lead 3-0 after game 19. Following his over confidence, came a disaster as a present
for the Ukrainian. Jarkko pulled himself up winning a breather breakpoint of game 20. Cutting off the lead to 2-3 winning the next game, Jarkko lost the next. From 2-4 down in the decider, the Finnish international broke all dreams of the young 22 year-old
beating him in 4 straight games to take away the set and the match leaving a devastated and overconfident youngster to cry over his unbelievable loss.
The statistical card showed a close for the losing Ukrainian as he lost by 2 points in total. Securing 76 points in total, Jarkko won 41 service points and 35 returners. However, the 22 year-old seemed to be an ace factory as he
smashed 12 of them even though he could not win at the end.
Jarkko will now play against Gilles Simon, the Frenchman, in the 3rd round for a spot in the quarterfinals.
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