The man who is denying Jim Courier a wildcard into Auckland's ATP Open dodged a pair of bullets to survive to this morning's New Zealand Residential tennis semifinals at Forrest Hill.
Mark Nielsen beat fellow past champion, Steven Downs, in a wild quarter-final out of the rain at Glen Innes, setting up a semifinal with another North Shore product, Andrew Turner.
Nielsen has managed with a dickey knee in far-flung outposts to hold his world ranking in the top-350, second only to Brett Steven, and stay in line for his second Auckland Open wildcard next month along with Residential absentees Steven and Alistair Hunt.
Courier, a winner of four Grand Slam titles, will only get a free berth if one of the trio breaks an arm or leg. In a shootout full of racket-throwing, curses and brilliant strokes, Downs, the gifted one trying not to abuse his talent, had matchpoints on Nielsen, the grafter who takes the game seriously, at 6-1 5-4 and in the subsequent tiebreak. Downs led 5-4 in the third but Nielsen kept coolest for a 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 win.
Nielsen now meets Turner, who last made the semis in 1995, the year of his last big win, the Auckland championship.
Tennis: Nielsen stays on track
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