Nieminen faces Blake in Semi Finals in Stockholm Open

Written by: Global Chick on 22nd October 2011

Nieminen faces Blake in Semi Finals in Stockholm Open

Jarkko Nieminen of Finland returns to Gael Monfils of France during their quarter final match at the ATP PTT Thailand Open tennis tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, 30 September 2011. Monfils defeated Nieminen. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT |

Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen loves playing at the If Stockholm Open. The 30-year old has been a runner up at this event twice in 2001 and 2006. Nieminen is now through to the semi-finals after a win over Germany qualifier Tobias Kamke 3-6 7-5 6-1 on Friday at Kungliga Tennishallen.

The World No. 73 came back from a set down against Kamke. The former world number 13 is extremely popular with the crowds in Stockholm. So far Nieminen has not won a title since 2006 in Auckland. Last year he came close to winning a title by reaching the final of the PTT Thailand Open.

Next up for the Finn is the former Stockholm Open Champion James Blake. The American was given a walk over by Argentine David Nalbandian who is experiencing problems with his hamstring.

Top seed Gael Monfils ousted the number five seed South African Kevin Anderson 7-5 7-5 in the quarterfinals on Friday. Anderson had chances to force the Frenchman into a tiebreak in the second set but he failed. “I think Kevin played good. I have to give him credit. He was going for his shots more and was very lose,” Monfils said.

The World No. 10 is without titles this year. Being the finalist and losing to Radek Stepanek in Washington is his best result this year. Monfils will take on Canadian young and upcoming star Milos Raonic in the top half semi-finals on Saturday. “It will be a tough one. He’s young and coming up well. His serve is big, so I think it will be the same type of match I had today,” the Frenchman said.

Milos Raonic defeated Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 6-4 to advance into his third final this year. The number six seed has had a great year. He won the title in San Jose and reached the final of Memphis.

Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi took out Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Martin Del Potro yesterday in a tough deciding match tiebreak 10-8. The Indo/Pak Express are ranked No. 7 in the race for London. Every match gives them valuable points for the end of year event. They will face the winner of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares and Jean-Julien Rojer and Eric Butorac. Melo and Soares win in straight sets over fellow South Americans Juan Ignacio Chela and Andre Sa.

Topics: James Blake, Jarkko Nieminen