Nieminen beats illness to advance in Bangkok
Date published :
27 Sep 2011 - 18:35:36
Fighting Finn Jarkko Nieminen needed all his physical reserves to knock out Austria's promising teen Dominic Thiem 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 and advance into the Thailand Open second round on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Nieminen, a finalist here last year, came off his sickbed to face an opponent a dozen years his junior and ranked 1,848th in the world.
Nieminen, world number 50, breezed through the opening set in 24 minutes, but dropped the second and lost his serve in the third before finally closing out victory in two hours with a break in the last game.
He now faces Dutchman and seventh seed Robin Haase in the second round.
In other first-round results, qualifier Simone Bolelli beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) while Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan stopped Brazil's Joao Souza 6-2, 7-5.
American Donald Young went through after Russian Igor Andreev retired injured while trailing 7-6 (8/6), 2-1.
German Matthias Bachinger beat Australian qualifier Greg Jones 7-5, 6-4, and Michael Berrer set up a tie with Andy Murray for the second time this season after knocking out Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Murray, who lost to Roger Federer in the 2005 final at Bangkok's Impact Arena, arrived in the capital Monday evening, joining second seed Gael Monfils from France in a late arrival.
Nieminen, who lost the final here a year ago to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, spent three days in bed upon arrival in Bangkok from a home Davis Cup tie.
The Finn said he began feeling ill an hour after takeoff and by the time he landed was running a fever.
He spent Monday in bed and had to rally to get past the 18-year-old Thiem, who was playing in just his second ATP match.
Nieminen said that after seeing the tournament doctor at the start of the final set, he was cleared to go on and play despite feeling poorly.
"It was not a high-risk situation, there was no way I could have damaged myself," said the player who may yet have to have his tonsils removed.
"I went full from start to finish and tried not to show anything (emotion) on court.
"I actually felt I played well in some parts of the match. He's a very talented player and did well. He was nervous at the start but soon got used to the tempo."
Nieminen has never faced Haase, whom he trains with frequently.
"We know each other's game very well, there are no surprises," said the Finn. "There are no excuses, if I go onto the court, I'm fit to play."
