LONDON (AP) — Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen saved three match points before defeating Benoit Paire of France 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday to reach the second round at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament, a warm-up event for Wimbledon.
Nieminen surrendered the first four games of the final set and then saved two match points in the ninth game and another in the 12th to force the tiebreaker.
He next faces 12th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who defeated Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-4.
Tenth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez needed three sets — and two days — to overcome Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1 in a match that had been suspended overnight because of rain. His next opponent is four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt.
Second-seeded Tomas Berdych and fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov were in action later Tuesday.
