Jarkko Nieminen reached his third semi-final at the Thailand Open yesterday, defeating third seed Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
The Finn, ranked No. 60 in the world, played in the final four at the Impact arena in 2003 and 2005, losing both times to the eventual tournament champion.
The win sends the left-hander into his first tournament semi-final since Delray Beach in February, where he was defeated by Latvian Ernests Gulbis, fourth seed this week in the Thai capital.
Photo: EPA
Nieminen’s last semi before that was in Sydney in January last year, when he reached the final, but lost to Argentine David Nalbandian.
He next faces Benjamin Becker, who saw off fellow German Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-2 in just 57 minutes.
Nieminen, working since the summer with German Jan de Witt, said that at the age of 29, he has been able to relearn much of his game under his new mentor.
“I’ve been doing things one way for thousands and thousands of times, but I’m really starting to see progress now,” he said.
“We’ve worked on a lot of things — especially the serve, but everything takes time. You don’t see the changes the next day. I’m very satisfied as to how things are going with my game,” he said.
Nieminen broke twice in the opening set and concluded the victory with a service winner on his first of two match points against the Roland Garros semi-finalist.
The defeat hurts the Melzer’s bid for one of the eight spots in the ATP World Tour’s year-end final in London, with the Austrian currently 11th in the points chase.
In the other quarter-finals, Rafael Nadal was aiming to follow up on his Thai debut as the Spanish world number one faced Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan. Gulbis was playing Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
On Thursday, Rafael Nadal put on a typically commanding performance in his Bangkok debut on Thursday, the Spanish top seed progressing with the minimum of fuss in his first career match at the Thailand Open.
The world No. 1 demolished feisty Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash with Mikhail Kukushkin after the Kazakh saw off another Belgian, Olivier Rochus, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Fans in the sell-out crowd cheered and clapped wildly for Nadal, who has won the last three majors, and the popular Spaniard also met Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the pair exchanging gifts.
“The first round is for sure never easy,” Nadal said.
“I had some time off after winning the US Open and spent a week in this great country. I played well, but I must improve for the next match,” he said.
MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP and AP, KUALA LUMPUR
Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny will face each other in an all--Russian semi-final at the Malaysian Open after both battled through three sets in their quarter-final matches yesterday.
Qualifier Andreev, who was once ranked in the ATP Top 20, ended the dream run of Canadian teenager Milos Raonic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
US Open semi-finalist Youzhny continued his own run of form to defeat sixth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1.
Youzhny has won two of his three matches against his 102-ranked compatriot, with their last meeting in January last year in Doha.
Youzhny earned his 37th victory of the season in two hours, 40 minutes of struggle against Baghdatis, with the Russian breaking serve seven times.
Andreev put an end to a run in which Raonic won his first two career victories on the ATP.
“It was a very tough match,” Andreev said. “He’s got a lot of potential. I’m happy with how I played today, I was able to use my chances and earn the win.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played a semi-final [Feb. 14 on clay in Brazil]. It’s great to play well again and win some matches,” Adreev said. “It gives you confidence and a great feeling.”
On Thursday, top-seeded Robin Soderling breezed past Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-0, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open.
The fifth-ranked Swede dominated the match with his blistering serves and accurate shot making to set up a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev. Golubev overcame South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Third-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also advanced by beating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-3, and No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain ousted Yuki Bhambri of India 6-2, 6-2.
Soderling only dropped eight points in the first set, which lasted a mere 22 minutes. Roger-Vasselin played more aggressively in the second set and finally held serve to make it 1-0. However, it was all Soderling from there and the Swede closed out the victory in 62 minutes.
“To be honest it was not as easy as it looked as this is my first match here, while Edouard already had some game time,” said Soderling, who had a bye in the first round.
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