Tennis: Lone Finn sets his sights even higher

Jarkko Nieminen makes it to the second round. Picture /Dean Purcell

Jarkko Nieminen can relate to the loneliness of the long-distance sporting hero.

As the only Finn in the top 500 of the ATP rankings, the 24-year-old carries the hopes of the Scandinavian nation not only at the Heineken Open but on other far-flung courts.

He is not alone in that. His wife, Anu Weckstrom (they married last July), is Finland's top badminton player who also spends much of her year on the move.

They both played at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Nieminen these days also travels without a coach.

"I used to have a fulltime coach but I tried going it alone last year," he said. "It worked okay. In spite of being forced to take a break with a stomach muscle injury, I still ended with my highest year-end ranking."

Now at No 29 and the seventh seed in the singles, Nieminen has his sights set even higher.

His 51-minute, 6-2, 6-2, first-round demolition yesterday of Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis - also a solitary man on tour - was a breakthrough for the 1.85m left-hander. In two previous Auckland appearances he was a first-round casualty.

"This is a very tough tournament," said Nieminen. "I'm the seventh seed yet I'm ranked in the top 30."

Against Baghdatis, Nieminen, who has yet to win an ATP tournament - he has played in four finals - was in superb touch.

After Baghdatis reeled off three aces (his only such serves in the match) to win the third game of the first set and take a 2-1 lead, the Finn took over, reeling off five straight to win the set in 26 minutes.

The second set was more of the same. Baghdatis held in the first and fifth games but did little else as Nieminen cruised through without giving his opponent an opportunity to break back.

"I was very solid today," said Nieminen. "My goal was to make him work hard. It is always nice to play when you hold all of your service games.

"He played well to reach the quarter-finals in Doha last week. I expected a much tougher match.

"I'm pretty much an all-round player and today I was able to stay on the baseline."

Nieminen has played a part in a resurgence in tennis in his homeland with his win in the US Open juniors in 1999 kick-starting his career.

Two years on he broke into the top 100 and reached his first final (in Stockholm) - the first Finn to do that since Leo Palin reached the final in Sofia 20 years earlier.

He rarely, apart from some Davis Cup and rare appearances in Challengers, gets to play at home.

While he hates to take injury time outs - he was also sidelined with a wrist problem a couple of years ago - they do give him added time at home.

And the chance to spend time with his wife, who last year too had time off court with a foot injury, during which time her world singles ranking dropped to 35 (from a career-high 13).

"But even those breaks at home are usually no more than a week," said Nieminen, who plans such a break after this month's Australian Open. "That's why our end of year break is so important."

A win over American Paul Goldstein today would keep him on track for a first title which would, should he win it, make the trip back to the other side of the world even more special and add to the US$1.8 million he has banked thus far.