Former Champ Confirmed as Seventh Top 30 Player for 2008 Heineken Open
Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen has been confirmed as the seventh top-30 ranked player to have entered the 2008 Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles.
Ranked at 27th in the world the 26-year-old won the Heineken Open title in 2006 having played superb tennis all week.
He was down and out in the semifinals against Olivier Rochus but won in three dramatic sets and then accounted for Mario Ancic in straight sets in the final.
The Auckland win put tennis on the map in his nation and gave the sport a major boost.
The title victory was a welcome relief for Nieminen after being a beaten finalist on five previous occasions, (Stockholm 2001 and 2006, Estoril and Mallorca 2002 and Munich 2003).
He came close to winning title number two with a quality performance at Basel late in 2007 with victories over Robby Ginepri, Guillermo Canas and Marcos Baghdatis before falling to Roger Federer.
The year also saw him feature as semifinalist twice – Halle on grass and the indoor hard courts at Marseille.
At Mumbai and Stockholm he was a singles quarter-finalist while he won the doubles title at Mumbai with Robert Lindstedt.
The tall left-hander reached a career-high ranking of 13 in July 2006 and has been a Grand Slam quarter-finalist on two occasions. The first being at the US Open in 2005 and the following year at Wimbledon.
“Jarkko has been a great supporter of our tournament and of course being a past champion it will be a pleasure to welcome him back to the Heineken Open this coming January,” says tournament director Graham Pearce.
He is married to badminton playing wife and fellow Olympian, Anu Weckstrom.
Other players confirmed for the Heineken Open are Spaniard David Ferrer (ranked at No5), No15 Guillermo Canas(Argentina), 20th ranked Juan Ignacio Chela(Argentina), Juan Monaco(Argentina) No23, Juan Carlos Ferrero(Spain) at No24 and another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro at 28. Former finalist Mario Ancic(Croatia) is ranked outside the top-50.
The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 7 – 12, 2008 with the first two days of qualifying January 5 – 6, 2008 at the Albany Tennis Park, Oteha Valley Road, Albany starting at 10am each day.
The 2008 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play and audio podcasts.
