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10/24/11 3:10 AM | Ricky Dimon
Gael Monfils defeats Jarkko Nieminen in a three-set Stockholm final on Sunday. Monfils captures the fourth ATP title of his career.
Gael Monfils may be a veteran on tour and a staple of the Top 10 of the world rankings, but he is a relative stranger to ATP titles.
Monfils did at least a little to change that on Sunday, beating Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the If Stockholm Open. The No. 1 seed fired 13 aces against only one double-fault and served at 72 percent to prevail after one hour and 52 minutes of play.
What was almost exclusively a baseline battle saw a total of 10 service breaks, including four en route to a 5-5 tie in the first set. At that points, Monfils' third break of the afternoon proved to be decisive and he served it out to love at 6-5.
Although his opponent continued to serve well in the second, Nieminen started to find his range from the back of the court. The 30-year-old Finn seized a pair of breaks and did a better job taking care of his first-serve points. A hold at 5-3 allowed Nieminen to force an all-important third set.
Monfils won all three of his previous Stockholm matches in three sets, so he was certainly not out of his element. And it showed. The 10th-ranked Frenchman fought off two break points in the opening game then earned a scalp of the Nieminen serve at 2-1 to take complete control. Monfils squandered three match points on Nieminen's serve at 5-2, but he converted his fourth chance to clinch victory.
"Some spots in the match were high level tennis and (Nieminen) was moving well," said Monfils, who improved to 4-11 lifetime in ATP finals. "At the end I think he got a bit fatigued. I played him three weeks ago [in Bangkok], but I was more impressed with him today."
Nieminen wrapped up his effort with one ace and four double-faults, although he was his usual rock-solid self at the baseline. "I played a really good second set," explained the world No. 73, who is a mere 1-10 in ATP finals. "I continued that for the beginning of the third set, but unfortunately went down a break and got a bit tired and Monfils stayed strong at the end."
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If Monfils were to lose to Nieminnen, then he should consider himself as a total waste of talent. I can't believe it took him 3 sets to beat a 30-y/old guy who was visibly fatigued. Anyway, good for LaMonf that he has finally been able to win a title considering the lengthy pause between this and his previous title. perhaps he should try to cut down on the court histrionics, but I doubt that will ever happen.
scoretracker , 10/25/11 2:16 AM
Nieminen is way better than you give him credit for
plus he was fatigued only in the third set and Monfils erased him 6-3, so that argument doesn't make any sense
RickyDimon , 10/25/11 3:14 AM
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Congratulations to Monfils for the win! Nieminen played well to make it a match, but this time Monfils didn't lose the plot. He kept it together and finally won a title. If he can manage to stay healthy and keep his focus, then maybe we will see him get better results.
Nativenewyorker , 10/24/11 10:34 PM