Jarkko Nieminen rallies past Jan-Lennard Struff in the semi-finals – IPP Open 2012 CH
Top seeded, Jarkko Nieminen, confidently journeyed through the semi-finals of the IPP Open 2012 held at the hard courts of Helsinki, Finland. He gave his German junior, Jan-Lennard Struff, a remarkable defeat in a nail-biting three-set
match on the eve of Saturday. He jolted down his success 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in approximately two hours and seven minutes.
A series of serve breaks was seen right at the start, oscillating the momentum between the two contenders. Both the challengers manifested their superb skills and marked an impressive run in the matchup. They sustained their focus
and continuously plucked each other’s serves in order to come on top. Struff was able to secure lead at 7-6(4), after contesting a tough battle in a close tie-break round.
The world number 46, Nieminen, cashed on his challenger’s serve and drew the first blood by capitalizing on the initial two games in the second set. This completely crumbled his rival’s assurance and he was unable to respond. Nonetheless,
the German professional showed his true colours with time and squared down the score line to 3-all in the fifth game. The Finn professional took the opportunity at hand and summed up a 6-4 score line to claim the set.
Ranked 180th in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, the German contender totally lost his former beat and Nieminen sustained his lead by skilfully serving without facing any difficulty. He cashed
his rival’s serve twice i.e. in the fifth and the seventh game respectively, and emerged as the winner at 6-2.
The left-hander Finn had a relatively better first serve of 61 percent with 12 of 14 first and five of nine second serve points. He was able to attain the lead as he snatched two serve breaks but his contender was unable to attain
even one. The German junior double faulted four times, converting seven of 10 first but just four of 11 second delivery points.
In the final round, the Finn tennis star will battle against the second seeded, Lukas Lacko. The Slovakian tennis player gave a three set defeat to his German opponent, Benjamin Becker.
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