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Andreev finishes off Chiudinelli, Chardy slams Nieminen
7/30/10 1:50 AM | Ricky Dimon
Igor Andreev completes his match with Marco Chiudinelli on Thursday in Gstaad, prevailing in a third-set tiebreaker. Jeremy Chardy is also through to the quarterfinals after ousting Jarkko Nieminen.
Igor Andreev d. Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(6)
In a match that took two days to complete, Andreev needed a total of two hours and 28 minutes to get past Chiudinelli and reach the second round of the Allianz Gstaad Open Suisse. Andreev blasted 16 aces to set up a quarterfinals clash with Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
The 88th-ranked Russian almost finished the job on Wednesday, but Chiudinelli won the second set in a tiebreaker before play was controversially stopped prior to the third-set 'breaker. Chiudinelli wanted to continue while Andreev complained about darkness and wanted to stop, so play was halted.
Following a rain delay on Thursday, the two players finally returned to the court for a back-and-forth final tiebreaker. Andreev led 4-1, gave back two mini-breaks to trail 5-4, took a 6-5 lead and missed a match point on his own serve, then clinched victory with a mini-break at 7-6.
Jeremy Chardy d. Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 6-2
Chardy advanced to the quarterfinals after one hour 22 minutes, ousting Nieminen and booking a showdown with No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro. Dismal serving marked the first set and two breaks were exchanged en route to 5-5. Chardy then earned his third break of the match in the 11th game before serving out the set at 6-5.
The 69th-ranked Frenchman had a more difficult time serving out the second frame of play--and the match. He had an insurance break in hand leading 5-2, but almost gave it back with the quarterfinals on his racket. Chardy fought off one break point and finally converted his fifth match-point opportunity to dismiss Nieminen. The veteran Finn was doomed four double faults and 13 of 35 second-serve points one, while Chardy struck three aces.
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