Nieminen wins Sydney
01/15/2012 01:42:41 AM
Jarkko Nieminen won his second career title with a straight-sets victory over fellow veteran Julien Benneteau in the Sydney International final.
The 30-year-old Finn improved his record over Benneteau to 5-0 with a comfortable 6-2 7-5 triumph on Sunday morning after heavy rain on Saturday night postponed the match.
After dropping his opening service game, Nieminen took complete control of the match to break Benneteau's serve on four occasions and cruise through the opening set.
The Frenchman improved in the second set, but failed to make any inroads when returning as Nieminen claimed the only break to seal the match in just under an hour and 20 minutes.
With victory, the world No.77 becomes the first qualifier to win an ATP World Tour title since Sergiy Stakhovsky lifted the St. Petersburg crown in 2009.
But there will be no time to celebrate for Nieminen with his Australian Open campaign due to start on Monday with a tough opening match against David Nalbandian.
For Benneteau, it was an all too familiar story with the world No.49 now winless in his six career finals.