Roger Federer maintained his perfect record against Jarkko Nieminen by defeating the Finn 7-6 7-6 at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
Nieminen still seeking first victory over Swiss ace
Roger Federer maintained his perfect record against Jarkko Nieminen by defeating the Finn 7-6 7-6 at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The world number two had beaten Nieminen on their 10 previous encounters, and, incredibly, has never even given up a set in a dominant rivalry.
Federer did have to save a set point at 4-5 in the opener on his own serve but Nieminen failed to convert, and the home favourite went on to clinch the tie-break 8-6.
The top seed did drop his serve early in the second set but got it back to level at 4-4, and he dominated the tie-break to earn five match points, clinching victory on the first of them.
"I have such a good record against him, that I never felt in danger," said Federer, chasing a hat-trick of wins in Basel.
"We played doubles 10 years ago as juniors and we know each other well.
"This was a good match but not my best, I was playing passive sometimes and waiting for him to make the errors."
Nalbandian through
Next up for Federer is Simone Bolelli, who beat Spain's Marcel Granollers 6-4 6-2, while former champion and second seed David Nalbandian required nearly two and a half hours to subdue qualifier Kristof Vliegen, posting a 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7-4) win.
Nalbandian's Davis Cup team mate Juan Manuel Del Potro maintained hopes of a semi-final meeting between the pair when he wrapped up a routine 6-3 6-3 win over local wild card Stephane Bohli.
The third seed will now have to beat Russian sixth seed Igor Andreev to set up a possible last four meeting with Nalbandian.
Fourth seed James Blake overcame some stiff early resistance from Spain's Oscar Hernandez to win his second round match 6-7 6-2 6-4.
Hernandez never came close to breaking the world number 11 but successfully defended three break points against his own serve before clinching the tiebreak 7-4.
Blake was less forgiving in the next two sets, breaking Hernandez twice, before wrapping up the win with a further break in the third.
"Luckily, I was serving very well today which got me out of trouble," said Blake, who also had to come from behind to win his first round match against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer.
"I like the fact that I've closed out the last two matches pretty handily on the final service games which shows when you do that you're not thinking about nerves or letting things creep into your mind."
