Jarkko Nieminen stuns Milos Raonic in the second round battle – Monte Carlo Rolex Masters 2013
World number 49, Jarkko Nieminen, registered an upset in the second round of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters by defeating the 12th seeded Canadian tennis prodigy, Milos Raonic, on Wednesday. The Finn underdog took one
hour and 55 minutes to wrap up the three-setter at 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(3), marching into the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 clay-court event in Monte-Carlo, Spain.
Being the superior-ranked, Raonic was anticipated to take down the unseeded Finn but it turned out to be the other way round. Nieminen first met Raonic last year in Bangkok, Thailand, and defeated the Canadian youngster 6-3, 7-6(3),
in the quarter-finals. His Wednesday’s victory gave him a 2-0 lead in the head-to-head series against Raonic.
Raonic took off the opening set in a steady manner, winning his opening two games comprehensively. However, he displayed some sloppy play in the sixth game and Nieminen broke his serve to attain a 4-2 lead. Raonic couldn’t craft
a break point and remained in the trail to lose the first set at 3-6.
Tide turned in the following set and Nieminen started to lose his steam. Raonic capitalised upon his errors and broke him early to impose a 3-0 lead right away. The Finn could win just one serve game in the set before the Canadian
youngster broke him in the sixth game. He convincingly served out of the set at 6-1.
With both men bagging one set apiece, the decider was sure to be a nail-biter and it actually proved to be the one. Both men made successive attempts to break each other’s serve but none succeeded. A regular game was witnessed,
with both men ticking the core board on even terms and holding their respective serves. After the scores were dead-locked at 6-6, a tie-breaker came into play. Nieminen quickly raced to 5-2 in the tie-break round after nailing a couple of mini-breaks. He eventually
wrapped up the proceedings at 7-6(3) to register one of the major upsets of the tournament.
Nieminen will take on the fifth seeded wildcard entrant, Juan Martin Del Potro, in the third round battle on Thursday.
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