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  • Nieminen, Clement and Montanes advance in Stockholm

    10/9/08 12:12 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - It was a somewhat disappointing day for Sweden as two of their countrymen fell in early-round action on Wednesday.

    Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen had a strong win on Wednesday over Brazil’s Tomaz Bellucci 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. Bellucci got the first break of the match at 2-1 on his second break point. Nieminen fought to return the break of serve in the very next game. The two players remained on serve until the set was decided in a tiebreaker. Bellucci was the stronger of the two in the 'breaker and was rewarded with the first set.

    The Finn took the second set on the strength of a break at 1-0 on Bellucci’s serve. Though Nieminen had other chances in the set to extend his lead, the lone break was all he needed. Bellucci and Nieminen traded breaks of serve in the beginning of the third set. The Brazilian had five more break-point chances at 3-2, but he was unable to take it. Bellucci continued to apply pressure to Nieminen’s serve, but in the end it was the Finn who secured the match-winning break. At 5-5 and 30-40, Bellucci struck an unforced error to give Nieminen a 6-5 lead. The Finn then served the match out for the win.

    Arnaud Clement made short work of Swedish wildcard Bjorn Rehnquist 6-2, 6-1. Alhough the two men share a similar playing style, Clement was clearly at a different level than Rehnquist.

    An ailing Thomas Johansson from Sweden also went out to Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Johansson struggled with his foot and the injury affected his movement. The Swede played a sloppy game in the fourth game of the match to give Montanes the break. The Spaniard held onto the early break all the way through the set and served an ace on set point to take the first.

    Montanes broke first in the second set on his way, it seemed, to an easy straight-set victory. Johansson broke back at 4-3, then broke again at 5-4 to take the set. To the disappointment of the crowd, Montanes was back to work in the third set. The men traded breaks of serve early in the set, but at 2-2 Montanes took control of the match, breaking again as unforced errors crept into Johansson’s game. The Spaniard won the match on his first match point after Johansson dumped a volley into the net.

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