Jarkko Nieminen recovers to beat Dominic Thiem in opening round – PTT Thailand Open 2011
Reigning world number 50, Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, came right out of his sickbed to take down the 18-year-old Austrian, Dominic Thiem, in the opening round of the PTT Thailand Open on Tuesday afternoon.
The unseeded Finn took one hour and fifty eight minutes of play to wrap up the three-set thriller at 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, to make it to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of the Impact Arena, in Bangkok, Thailand, the contest witnessed amazing resilience skills of the 30-year-old Nieminen, who was suffering from illness from the past three days in Bangkok.
“It was difficult because I was lying in bed ill most of the past three days. I’m feeling better and better all the time and I felt in many stages I was playing well,” told Nieminen.
The young Austrian was off to a very ordinary start in the opening set but soon got his momentum in the middle parts of the contest to give some real tough time to Nieminen. The 50th ranked Finn held his nerve in the
competition and used all of his experience to take the better of Thiem in the final set to come out as the winner in the end.
“It was not a high-risk situation, there was no way I could have damaged myself,” said the player who may yet have to have his tonsils removed. I went full from start to finish and tried not to show anything (emotion) on court.
He’s a very talented player and did well. He was nervous at the start but soon got used to the tempo.”
Nieminen raced through the opener in just 24 minutes, nailing three crushing serve breaks to lead 1-0 in the contest but the Austrian teenager pushed his way back in business by clinching the second set at 6-4. The final set also
went to the wire but the Finn veteran nailed a crucial serve break towards the end of the match to wrap up victory at 7-5.
Nieminen will take on the seventh seeded Dutch competitor, Robin Haase, in the second round to fight for a berth in the quarter-final draw of the PTT Thailand Open. Haase registered a convincing straight sets victory against the
local wildcard entrant, Kittipong Wachiramanowong, 6-3, 7-6(1), in the opening round to meet Nieminen in the round of 16.
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