Jarkko Nieminen prevails over Philipp Petzschner in the second round – Thailand Open 2012
Seeded seventh in the draw, Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen defeated Philipp Petzschner of Germany in straight sets 7-6(1), 6-2 in the second round of the Thailand Open on Bangkok.
The former world number 13 made a very good start in this season, as he came through the qualifying round to capture the Apia International title in Sydney.
However, he could not give any good performance in the last many months. He has won back to back matches on the ATP World Tour for the first time since reaching the third round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April. The
Finn player went down in the second round of French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Coming back to his match against Petzschner, Nieminen came flying into it, grabbing opening three games to race to a 3-0 lead. Petzschner reduced the deficit to 3-4 by breaking back in the seventh but he lost his serve again in
the eighth to trail 3-5. Hitting back once again, the German contender clinched two consecutive games to even out the score at 5-5. The following two went with serve, levelling it at 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Nieminen played flawlessly in the tie-breaker,
winning seven of the eight points to seal it 7-6(1).
It looked like the former world number 35, Petzschner, will square off the score at one set apiece, as he started with a 2-0 lead in the second one. However, the German could not do that, as Nieminen grabbed six games in a row,
breaking Petzschner three times and holding his entire serves to triumph 6-2.
The Finn player smacked one ace and 72 percent of the first serves, securing 29 of the 42 points on them in the match. The left-hander put away four of the seven break threats he came across and availed five of the 13 chances he
created.
Nieminen required one hour and 28 minutes in sealing this win and moving to the last eight-stage of the ATP World Tour 250 event.
The 31-year-old will face the third seed, Milos Raonic, or Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the quarters.
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