Jarkko Nieminen overpowers Radek Stepanek to reach second round – Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2012
World number 48, Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, stunned his higher ranked opponent, Radek Stepanek, in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3) in the first round at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco on Monday. It took the Finn an hour and
57 minutes to outplay the world number 23 in an evenly contest match.
Nieminen and Stepanek held their serve in the first five games of the opener, taking the score to 3-2 in the favour of the former. The Finn made a breakthrough and capitalised on it to race to a 5-2 lead. Stepanek won his serve
in the eighth game to reduce the trail to 3-5 but the Czech could not stop his opponent from winning it 6-3.
The left-hander, Nieminen, did not fire any ace, putting in 69 percent of the first serves and clinching 15 of the 22 points on them. On the other hand, Stepanek pounded three aces and had a better first delivery percentage of
76 but he succeeded in winning just 15 of the 26 points on them in the opener.
In the second set, Stepanek faced pressure from the beginning, as he failed to save the fifth break point and lost his serve to trail 0-1. However, the Czech hit back immediately to equalise the score at 1-1. Nieminen struck again
in the fifth game and held his following serve for a 4-2 advantage but once more Stepanek clawed his way back to even it out at 4-4. The rest of the set went with the serve, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Nieminen attained a 5-2 lead and
capitalised on it to win 7-6(3).
The Finn smashed a couple of aces and 78 percent of the first serves, grabbing 23 of the 38 points on them. He gave a decent return performance, as he won 16 of the 35 first and seven of the 16 second reply points. The 30-year-old
saved two of the four break points he faced and converted two of the seven he received in the second set.
The former world number 13 has won 12 of the 20 matches he has played in 2012. Playing his first tournament of the season, Nieminen was beaten by Stepanek in the second round at the Brisbane International in January.
The Finn is pitted against world number two, Rafael Nadal, in the next match. Nadal, who is seeded second in the draw, received a bye in the first round.
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