Jarkko Nieminen enters Monte Carlo second round after three-sets battle with Julien Benneteau
Finnish tennis pro Jarkko Nieminen battled it out with Julien Benneteau of France in the first round of this year’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo yesterday, defeating the player in three tough sets. The match went on
for over two hours and twenty-four minutes before Nieminen managed to dismiss Benneteau from a set down, setting up a SCORE-LINE of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Nieminen is currently ranked World Number 59, and is the highest active Finnish tennis player on the Association of Tennis Professionals at the time. He is 29 years old, and has been part of the pro tour since 2000. Over the course
of his eleven years as a pro, the player has won a single career title so far. He is one of the few left-handed pros, and has won five of the twelve matches he played prior to this tournament in 2011.
Julien Benneteau, on the other hand, is ranked twenty spots lower than Nieminen at World Number 79. The player is also 29 years old, and turned pro around the same time as Nieminen in 2000. However, he has been somewhat less successful
than his Finnish opponent, and a career title has so far eluded him. The pro lost five of the seven matches he played before this one, which racks up his win-loss record to 2/6.
Benneteau has never won a match against Nieminen, despite playing with him on three occasions prior to this. This time, the pro managed to win the first set of the match and no doubt felt that he might be able to break the mould;
however, Nieminen obviously had other plans. Losing the first set seemed to galvanize the Finnish pro into action, and he broke his opponent four times and won 69 per cent of his points on the first serve to give himself a considerable lead during the match.
By the end of the conflict, he took ten points more than the French pro to win 52 per cent of the total points in the match.
As mentioned before, the two pros have confronted each other three times before this meeting. Their head-to-head record is now 4-0, with Nieminen taking a heavy lead. Their last meeting was at Basel in 2009, when they played against
each other in the round of the last 32. Obviously, Nieminen emerged successful from this battle as well, undoing Benneteau in straight sets with a 7-5, 6-2 winning score.
Nieminen’s run at the tournament, however, may be put to a stop in the next round by Rafael Nadal. The World Number 1 has lost only one of thirty-five matches during his Masters play throughout the course of his illustrious career,
and is on the hunt for his 19th Masters title.
Tags: