Timo Nieminen denies Mischa Zverev in opening round fixture – IPP Open 2011 CH
Timo Nieminen, world No.343 and local favourite, won his opening round match of IPP Open 2011 CH on Monday, 21st of November 2011, beating down his Russian rival, word No.213, Mischa Zverev, 7-6(3), 6-0, in an hour and
16 minutes indoor hard circuit match at Tali, Helsinki, Finland.
Making their way onto the blue circuit, the two warmed up and followed with the service toss to commence the fixture. Nieminen, winning the toss, took his side to open up the match. Saving a near breakpoint, veteran Finn took away
his opening serve rolling down the scoreboard, 1-0.
Following the Finn rival, Zverev followed with his first win of the match evening up the scores at 1-1. The two rallied down a game each to level up again at 2-2 before the Nieminen charged in and struck. Breaking the higher ranked
24-year-old for the first time, the local lad followed with a service winner extending his lead to 4-2.
Zverev served next to cut the lead to 3-4 and broke back in game eight to level up the scores at 4-4. Unable to break each other, the two bagged two games each pushing the set into a tiebreaker with the local favourite serving
first next.
Although the Russian 24-year-old was well above in ranking, he could not captivate more than three points in the tiebreaker. Concluding the tiebreaker with a spectacular 7-3 run, Nieminen finished off the set 7-6(3), and led the
match.
The two fought a close battle in the first as Nieminen won with a lead of six points, 25 service points and 21 returners totalling 46 against 40 of the Russian.
Moving onto set two, Zverev was severely punished. Unable to win even a single game, Nieminen proved that the home ground effect does matter. Breaking the higher ranked 24-year-old in game one, three and five, the local lad bomb
shelled his rival in six straight games finishing off the set with a bagel and the match in straight sets.
Statistically, Zverev could only bag eight points of the second set. On the contrary, the local favourite bagged 25 points, 13 service points and 12 returners that added to 46 in the first set totalling 71 points at the end of
the fixture against 48 of the 24-year-old.
Beating down Zverev for the second consecutive time in the same event, ATP Challenger tour, Nieminen now moves on to the second stage with a comfortable seat as the rival seat is still to be filled up after the match between Karol
Beck and Michal Przysiezny.
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