Radek Stepanek falls to Jarkko Nieminen in the second round – Apia International Sydney 2012
Eighth seed Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic failed to replicate his yesterday’s magic at the Apia International Sydney, losing to the Finn qualifier, Jarkko Nieminen, in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday. 77th
ranked Nieminen avenged his loss from the Czech to claim the enthralling three-setter 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1, to book a berth in the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
33-year-old Czech veteran hung in the contest for two hours and 23 minutes before crumbling in the third set of the contest. He stood victorious against Nieminen in the second round of Brisbane International tournament last week
but couldn’t replicate the similar feat on Wednesday on the hard courts of the NSW Tennis Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Stepanek had a nail-biting encounter with Belgium’s Xavier Malisse in the opening round and recovered from being a set down in the contest to win the battle in the end. He took off the Wednesday’s contest in the similar fashion,
playing sloppy tennis first up to let easy opportunities to his opponent in the beginning. However, a trade of six break points was seen in the opening set before a tie-breaker round was enforced at 6-6. Nieminen cashed in most of his chances to clinch the
decider at 7-6(5), moving one up in the contest and getting the upper hand over Stepanek.
More intense tennis was witnessed from both competitors in the second set and a number of breath-taking winners were exchanged. Stepanek third break of the set earned him a 7-5 score line to force his way right back in business.
With the contest evenly posed at 1-1, the final set was anticipated to be a cracker but it went the other way round. Nieminen dominated every second of the third set to absolutely annihilate the eighth seed Stepanek in the most
authoritative manner. He stung three consecutive serve breaks to rocket away to 6-1, closing out the contest o book a place in the quarter-final draw of the tournament. The Finn qualifier will face off against the American competitor, Bobby Reynolds, in the
round of eight on Thursday.
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