Jarkko Nieminen

Country	Finland
Residence	Masku, Finland
Born	(1981-07-23) July 23, 1981 (age 30) Masku, Finland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	78 kg (170 lb; 12.3 st)
Turned pro	2000
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$5,612,452
Singles
Career record	321-257 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 13 (July 10, 2006)
Current ranking	No. 44 (April 30, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2008)
French Open	4R (2003)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	QF (2005)
Doubles
Career record	117-152 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 42 (January 28, 2008)
Current ranking	No. 119 (April 16, 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2010)
French Open	2R (2003, 2008)
Wimbledon	2R (2007)
US Open	QF (2008)
Last updated on: April 22, 2012.

Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born July 23, 1981 in Masku, Finland) is a professional tennis player from Finland.

His highest ranking is World No. 13, which he achieved on July 10, 2006. He has won two ATP singles titles and two doubles titles in his career. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open, the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2008 Australian Open.

Arguably Finland's best player ever, Nieminen is the highest-ranked Finn ever, and is also the first and so far only Finnish player to have won an ATP singles title and to have reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event.

His wife, Anu Nieminen, is currently Finland's top-ranked badminton women's single player.

Career highlights[link]

1999[link]

• Defeated Kristian Pless of Denmark to win his first junior Grand Slam, the U.S. Open.
• Finished the year at no. 9 in the world junior rankings.
• Made his Davis Cup debut against Italy, losing to Andrea Gaudenzi.

2000[link]

• Won his first Davis Cup match, beating Mikael Tillström of Sweden in a dead-rubber.

2001[link]

• Became the first Finn to reach an ATP final since Leo Palin in 1981, beating Pless, Younes El Aynaoui, defending champion Thomas Johansson and three-time winner Thomas Enqvist, before losing to Sjeng Schalken in five sets in Stockholm.
• Posted a 38–12 Challenger record, winning four titles.
• Finished the year in the top 100 for the first time.

2002[link]

• Reached clay-court finals in Estoril and Majorca, losing to David Nalbandian and Gastón Gaudio, respectively.
• Became the first Finnish player to end the season in the top 50.

2003[link]

• Reached his fourth career ATP final in Munich, losing to Roger Federer.
• Advanced to the fourth round at the 2003 French Open, losing to Fernando González.
• Was at best ranked world no. 27, a career high until 2006.

2004[link]

• Represented Finland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, losing to Max Mirnyi in the second round.
• Finished in the top 100 for the fourth consecutive year, despite missing nearly three months due to injury.

2005[link]

• Defeated world no. 7 Andre Agassi in a firstround five-setter at the 2005 French Open.
• Was defeated in five sets by Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals of the 2005 U.S. Open, having become the first Finn to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

2006[link]

• Won his first ATP singles title in January by defeating Mario Ančić in the final in Auckland.
• Recorded his career-best ATP Masters Series performance by reaching the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters, but lost to Paradorn Srichaphan.
• Broke into the top 20 for the first time in his career in April.
• Reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to world no. 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
• Broke into the top 15 for the first time in his career in July after his Wimbledon success.
• Reached the quarterfinals of the Canada Masters, losing to Andy Murray.
• Reached his sixth career ATP final in Stockholm, losing to James Blake.
• Finished the season by reaching the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters, where he lost to Tommy Robredo.

2007[link]

• Won his first ATP doubles title in September, paired with Robert Lindstedt. They beat Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna in Mumbai, India on hard courts.
• His best singles performance in 2007 came at Davidoff Swiss Indoors, where he was beaten in the finals by world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets, 6–3, 6–4. En route to the finals, he had beaten Robby Ginepri, Guillermo Cañas, world no. 8 Fernando González, and Marcos Baghdatis.

2008[link]

• Lost to Michaël Llodra in the final at the Adelaide International, 3–6, 4–6.
• Made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, losing in straight sets to Rafael Nadal.
• Represented Finland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, losing to Swede Thomas Johansson in the first round.

2009[link]

• Defeated top seed Novak Djokovic in the 2009 Medibank International semifinal, 6–4, 7–6. He lost to David Nalbandian in the final, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6.
• Withdrew from the 2009 Australian Open half-way through his first round clash with 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.
• Underwent surgery for a wrist injury and sidelined for three months, thus missing out on Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
• Returned to professional tennis at the New Haven tournament in the US in August.
• Defeated Frenchman Stéphane Robert in the ATP Challenger tournament final in Jersey, United Kingdom in November.

2010[link]

• Defeated Nick Lindahl in the first round of the Australian Open, before losing a tight five-set match to Florent Serra in the second round after having two match points in the fourth set. In the doubles competition, he reached the semifinals with partner Michael Kohlmann, losing to the top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
• Reached his first semifinal of the season at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, beating Paolo Lorenzi, 6–3, 6–4, in the first round, Evgeny Korolev, 5–7, 6–1, 6–0, in the second round, winning 12 consecutive games to close out the match, and finally third seed Benjamin Becker in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, lost against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who ended up winning the tournament against Ivo Karlović in the final.
• Won his second doubles title with Swede Johan Brunstrom in Gstaad, Switzerland on clay courts.
• Lost to Guillermo García-López in the PTT Thailand Open final, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.

2011[link]

• Reached his eleventh career ATP final in Stockholm, losing to Gaël Monfils.

2012[link]

Nieminen won the Sydney International for his second career title against Julien Benneteau. He was a finalist in doubles in the same tournament with Matthew Ebden against Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan.

He was a quarterfinalist at the Open Sud de France and in Rotterdam.

ATP Career Finals[link]

Singles: 12 (2–10)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	October 29, 2001	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	Sjeng Schalken	6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	April 15, 2002	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	David Nalbandian	4–6, 6–7(5–7)
Runner-up	3.	May 6, 2002	Majorca, Spain	Clay	Gastón Gaudio	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	May 5, 2003	Munich, Germany	Clay	Roger Federer	1–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	January 9, 2006	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Mario Ančić	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	October 16, 2006	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	James Blake	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	October 29, 2007	Basel, Switzerland	Hard	Roger Federer	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	January 6, 2008	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Michaël Llodra	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	January 17, 2009	Sydney, Australia	Hard	David Nalbandian	3–6, 7–6(11–9), 2–6
Runner-up	9.	October 3, 2010	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Guillermo García-López	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Runner-up	10.	October 23, 2011	Stockholm, Sweden (2)	Hard (i)	Gaël Monfils	5–7, 6–3, 2–6
Winner	2.	January 15, 2012	Sydney, Australia (2)	Hard	Julien Benneteau	6–2, 7–5

Doubles: 6 (2–4)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	September 29, 2003	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Andrew Kratzmann	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Winner	1.	September 24, 2007	Mumbai, India	Hard	Robert Lindstedt	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up	2.	February 15, 2009	San Jose, United States	Hard (i)	Rohan Bopanna	Tommy Haas Radek Štěpánek	2–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	August 1, 2010	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Johan Brunström	Marcelo Melo Bruno Soares	6–3, 6–7(4–7), [11–9]
Runner-up	3.	October 24, 2010	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Johan Brunström	Eric Butorac Jean-Julien Rojer	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	January 15, 2012	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Matthew Ebden	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	1–6, 4–6

Singles Performance Timeline[link]

External links and sources[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jarkko Nieminen

• Jarkko Nieminen's official website
• Jarkko Nieminen at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Davis Cup profile
• Nieminen Recent Match Results
• Nieminen World Ranking History
• Finnish Men Recent Match Results

Julien Benneteau

Country	France
Residence	Geneva, Switzerland
Born	(1981-12-20) December 20, 1981 (age 30) Bourg en Bresse, France
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	79 kg (170 lb; 12.4 st)
Turned pro	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$4,196,821
Singles
Career record	162–179 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 26 (April 30, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 26 (April 30, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2006, 2012)
French Open	QF (2006)
Wimbledon	4R (2010)
US Open	3R (2009, 2011)
Doubles
Career record	134–104 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 22 (September 10, 2007)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	QF (2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2010)
US Open	SF (2004, 2007)
Last updated on: May 16, 2011.

Julien Benneteau (born December 20, 1981 in Bourg-en-Bresse) is a professional male tennis player from France. His career-best singles ranking is ATP world no. 32, which he reached in July 2010. He formerly resided in Boulogne Billancourt and now lives in Geneva. He is generally regarded as one of the best singles players on the tour who has not won a title.

In the 1996 Orange Bowl Benneteau won the Boys 16s singles title.

At the 2006 French Open, Benneteau reached the quarterfinals by defeating Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, Radek Štěpánek, and Alberto Martín. There, he was defeated in straight sets 2–6, 2–6, 3–6, by fourth-seeded player Ivan Ljubičić of Croatia.

The Frenchman finished the 2008 season in the top 50 for the second time in three years. During the season, he reached two ATP finals, at Casablanca, where he lost to fellow countryman Gilles Simon, and in his final tournament of the season at Lyon, where he lost to Robin Söderling.

In May 2009, he entered the Interwetten Austrian Open in Kitzbühel as a lucky loser and reached his third career final, falling to Spain's Guillermo García-López 6–3, 6–7, 3–6.

In the quarterfinals of the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, he played a remarkable 53-point rally with then-world no. 2 Andy Murray in the second set of a 6–4, 3–6, 1–6 loss.^[1] He lost the rally when he smashed a lob that grazed the net and went wide.

His best career victory was undoubtedly achieved on the 11 November 2009 at the 2009 Paris Masters, when he scored a huge upset over world no. 1 Roger Federer, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4, in the second round in front of his home crowd.

ATP Career Finals[link]

Singles: 6 (0–6)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 18, 2008	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Gilles Simon	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	October 20, 2008	Lyon, France	Carpet (i)	Robin Söderling	3–6, 7–6(7–5), 1–6
Runner-up	3.	May 18, 2009	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Guillermo García-López	6–3, 6–7(1–7), 3–6
Runner-up	4.	February 15, 2010	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Michaël Llodra	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	August 27, 2011	Winston-Salem, United States	Hard	John Isner	6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	January 15, 2012	Sydney , Australia	Hard	Jarkko Nieminen	2–6, 5–7

Doubles: 11 (6–5)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	September 29, 2003	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Nicolas Mahut	Michaël Llodra Fabrice Santoro	7–6(7–2), 6–3
Runner-up	1.	October 6, 2003	Lyon, France	Carpet (i)	Nicolas Mahut	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	1–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	October 23, 2006	Lyon, France	Carpet (i)	Arnaud Clément	František Čermák Jaroslav Levinský	6–2, 6–7(3–7), [10–7]
Runner-up	2.	April 15, 2007	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Richard Gasquet	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	2–6, 1–6
Winner	3.	March 3, 2008	Las Vegas, United States	Hard	Michaël Llodra	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 4–6, [10–8]
Winner	4.	October 12, 2009	Shanghai, China	Hard	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	October 26, 2009	Lyon, France (2)	Hard (i)	Nicolas Mahut	Arnaud Clément Sébastien Grosjean	6–4, 7–6(8–6)
Winner	6.	February 15, 2010	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Michaël Llodra	Julian Knowle Robert Lindstedt	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	August 15, 2010	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Michaël Llodra	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	February 20, 2011	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Robin Haase Ken Skupski	3–6, 7–6(7–4), [11–13]
Runner-up	5.	November 13, 2011	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Nicholas Mahut	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	2–6, 4–6

Singles Performance Timeline[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Julien Benneteau

• Julien Benneteau at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Benneteau Recent Match Results
• Benneteau World Ranking History

v t e Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten French male singles tennis players as of May 28, 2012 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5 ) Gilles Simon (12 ) Gaël Monfils (14 1) Richard Gasquet (20 ) Julien Benneteau (32 ) Jérémy Chardy (55 1) Michaël Llodra (57 ) Benoît Paire (69 3) Édouard Roger-Vasselin (82 1) Nicolas Mahut (89 1)