Jarkko Nieminen makes it to 2nd round, overruns Santiago Giraldo – International German Open 2011
The second match of the 1st round of the International German Open 2011 in Hamburg, Germany was played here at the Rothenbaum tennis centre in the centre clay court. Competing for the second, Santiago Giraldo came up
against the Finn Jarkko Nieminen in a best of three set match to the next round.
Santiago, the 23-year-old Columbian, had his numbers up against the Finn international Jarkko when he outgunned the World No. 55 in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Rome with a close win. Santiago has been perfect on clay against
its close competitors. Ranked at world No.62, Santiago is well known for his gigantic cuts at the ball, flattering out every forehand and backhand generating a greater risk of unforced errors.
Possibly Finland’s best ever player, Nieminen is the highest ranked Finn ever. Winning an ATP singles title makes him the only Finn player to do that as well. The left hander has his double-handed backhand as a super shot. Formerly
ranked as the world No.13, Jarkko has probably mastered the clay with his astonishing records. The Finn has played 258 matches on clay altogether and succeeded in winning 170 out of them. However, another win was yet to come.
The first round match started up as the Finn took off with the opening set. Winning the first game Jarkko led the score1-0. The Columbian followed the lead and levelled the scores to 1-1 in game 2. However, Giraldo needed much
more than just a good return to outgun the Finn. Jarkko played the next two games with supreme professionalism and won the first breakpoint to gain a 2 game lead making it 3-1. Giraldo could not contain the Finn as he lost game 5 as well. At first the Columbian
hiked his way up in the next 3 games to level the scores to 4-4 but ultimately lost the last two games of the set. Jarkko now led the match 1-0 with a 6-4 win in the first set.
The second and the last set of the match were once again opened up by Nieminen serving first. Winning the first game the world No.55 took the lead 1-0 until Giraldo equalled the score in game12. Both players won on their respective
serves to read the score 3-2 with Giraldo serving for the next game. The first breakpoint for the set made the difference as Nieminen took away the game on Giraldo’s serve 4-2. Winning two out of the last three games of the 2nd set, the Finn won
the set and the match 6-4, 6-3 to proceed into the next round of the Hamburg Open.
The Finnish international made excellent use of the weak points of the Columbian and seemed that his homework had paid off. He now sits comfortable for his next stage match against the Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
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