Henman v Nieminen

Out of sorts: Henman
14 April 2012

Tim Henman looked completely out of sorts as he lost the opening set of his first round match at Wimbledon today. The British number one lost his serve twice to Finland's Jarkko Nieminen to stun the packed Centre Court into silence.

It took the sixth seed three games to win a point on Nieminen's serve and by then he had been forced to save a break point after consecutive double faults.

He was not so fortunate the next time however, strangely deciding to serve and volley on a second serve and giving Nieminen an easy passing shot which he gratefully accepted.

Another break in serve was largely academic but it gave Nieminen the set 6-3 in just 32 minutes.

Things briefly looked up when Henman broke serve in the opening game of the second set to open up a 3-1 lead, but there was no disguising the fact the four-time semi-finalist was nowhere near his best.

He was broken back to love in the fifth game after another double fault, and had to save another break point on his next service game.

The 30-year-old finally forced Nieminen onto the defensive in the 11th game but the Finn saved two break points before winning the set in a tie-break.

Henman crucially served another double fault to gift Nieminen two set points, and the world number 70 gratefully accepted the opportunity, despite a feeble second serve which landed halfway up the service box; Henman letting him off the hook with a woeful backhand into the net.

Nieminen had not played on a grass court for two years, his last match a third round defeat to Olivier Rochus here in 2003.

The 23-year-old had also failed to win more than two matches in a row this season, only defeating Andre Agassi in the first round of the French Open as the former champion was suffering from a back injury which led to his withdrawal from Wimbledon.

He has postponed his honeymoon to play at the All England Club however and it was looking a wise decision as Henman continued to play way below his best in the third set.

Crucially however Henman saved a break point in the opening game and finally broke Nieminen's serve in the 10th to win the set 6-4 and bring the capacity crowd to life.

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