Nicolas Almagro downs Jarkko Nieminen in the second round – Suisse Open Gstaad 2011
In a rain interrupted match, Top seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain outplayed world number 53 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-3 in the second round at the Credit Agricole Suisse Open in Gstaad on Friday. The Spaniard
number three needed just over one hour to oust his opponent.
Almagro and Nieminen could not break each other throughout the first set and levelled the score at 6-6, taking it to a tie-break. The Spaniard raised the level of his game in the tie-break, capturing a couple of mini-breaks and
capitalising on them to claim it 7-3.
The right-handed troubled the Finn with huge serves, bombarding seven aces and 63 percent of the first serves in the opening set. Almagro won majority of the service points, sealing eighteen of the 22 first service points and eleven
of the thirteen second service points in the first set. On the other hand, Nieminen matched his opponent with the first serve performance but he lost most of the point on the second serves, dropping nine of the fifteen points on the second serve in the opening
set.
After winning the first set with the closest of margins, Almagro had a pretty easy going in the second set. The Spaniard broke Nieminen in the sixth game of the second set and consolidated on it to go ahead 5-2. Almagro served
out the set in the ninth game, claiming it 6-3.
The Spaniard made his opponent’s life difficult with his huge first serves. Almagro smashed five aces and grabbed 100 percent of the first service points in the second set. The 25-year-old also sealed nine of the fourteen second
service points and four of the thirteen first return points in the second set. Almagro capitalised on the one break point opportunity he created on Nieminen’s serve and saved the only break point he faced on his own serve in the second set.
The Spaniard will meet compatriot, world number 24 Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals. Lopez ousted another countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver, ranked 67th in the world, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.
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