Jarkko Nieminen staggers past Stanislas Wawrinka into final eight – If Stockholm Open 2011
Upsets keep coming in Stockholm, as the world number 19, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland crashed out of the tournament at the hands of the 73rd ranked competitor from Finland, Jarkko Nieminen, in the second round of the If Stockholm Open on Thursday.
Seeded at number three in the tournament, Wawrinka failed to put up a decent performance in the competition, losing to the unseeded opponent in straight sets, 3-6, 4-6. Nieminen took one hour and eleven minutes of play to oust the Swiss number two from the competition and booked a place in the quarter-final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
Two-time runner-up at Stockholm, Nieminen registered his 19th victory of the running year to move into the round of eight. He finally avenged his defeat from Wawrinka, who outplayed him in Basel, Switzerland, in 2009.
30-year-old left-hander has made it to his second World Tour-level quarter-final of the current ATP season with authority. Nieminen stunned everyone by outplaying Wawrinka in every segment of the game to ease his way to the final eight.
The Finn delivered 63 per cent of his serve on target and clinched 25 out of 36 points on it en route to victory. Nieminen converted three of five break opportunities in the matchup, while Wawrinka registered merely one break point in the entire competition to finish on the losing side.
The action took off right from the second game of the match, with Nieminen breaking the Swiss serve to lead 2-0 very early in the contest. Wawrinka immediately retaliated with a break point conversion to fritter away his advantage but the Finn struck again with another serve break a couple of games later to reach a commanding position of 5-2 in the first set. He took the opener at 6-3 to get one up and carried on with his winning momentum in the next set to inch closer to victory.
Dejected Wawrinka never looked in a strong position in the flowing set as well and dropped his serve in the fifth game to let Nieminen into 4-2 lead again. The unseeded Finn secured 13 out of 17 first serve points in the second set and held his lead till the end to finish up the contest at 6-4, getting through to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Nieminen will have to go through the German qualifier, Tobias Kamke, in the next round clash to reach the semis of the If Stockholm Open on Friday. Kamke won the all-German affair against Sebastian Rieschick in the second round of the tournament to reach the quarter-final draw.
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