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This tournament feels like home for Nieminen

We will see the fourteenth consecutive appearance in Stockholm by the Finn and without a doubt this is his favorite tournament. One the other hand Becker only managed to get pass through the first round once in four occasions and he was defeated by Nieminen in both of their indoor matches

Reporters appreciate Nieminen very much as he is one of those players who has a blog on which he regularly analyses his play and his opponents. So, he gave us a new analysis following his Asian tour where he took part in three tournaments. He left a somewhat weaker impression than his usual this season, although none of his defeats can be called a major setback.

The matches we are talking about were against Sijsling, Dodig and Lopez while he achieved wins against Monaco and Przysiezny in Tokio. After that followed the match against inspired Dodig where he praised his opponent after the match. There wasn't much time for rest because he awaited the match against Lopez in Shanghai.

- I think I played very well which is confirmed by the statistics, that is I won more points than my opponent. But he is a very unpleasant opponent who had the conditions on his side and who made the best of key moments of the match. Still I am happy as I am traveling back to Europe to my favorite tournament - stated the Finn after the defeat in China.

As Nieminen already pointed out, Stockholm is a tournament that means a lot to him and this is confirmed by his past records there. He appeared in the last 13 tournaments and his best results are three finals. Together with the finals he also made appearances in later stages of the tournament on several occasions and there is no doubt that he feels great there.

- This is a tournament where I feel at home in. As always I will give my best considering I still have problems with my foot and I am still on medication - the experienced Finn pointed out ahead of the start of tournament.

The first round draw put him in a match against his peer and player he knows very well, Benjamin Becker. The two played six matches against one another so far and they were often very close duels. The Finn is the more successful with four wins and it is worth pointing out that two of these were indoor wins and they were easier for Nieminen than the other two.

Behind Becker is a very turbulent season which looked very bad at one moment as he had a streak of 11 consecutive defeats. He managed to get his form back after switching to grass courts and later he made several good results at the lower, challenger level (two finals). This stabilized his position in the top 100 and brought him back some self-confidence.

Becker always played very well indoors and he opened this part of the season well. He has quarter-finals of Petange and Metz behind him and after that he went to Asia. He took part in Beijing and Shanghai but hasn't accomplished anything worth mentioning and now he is back to European halls. His last appearance in this tournament was back in 2010 and he only achieved one win in four appearances so far.

As you can see from the preview, this is Nieminen's favorite tournament. He himself declared many times that this was the place where he felt at home. Therefore, it is no wonder that he achieved such good results in his 13 consecutive appearances in this event. The Finn currently has three Asian tournaments behind him in which he didn't excel, but he didn't disgrace himself either, while reaching the finals in Tokyo sounds rather decent. Becker took part in the last two (Beijing, Shanghai), and, considering the fact that he achieved only two wins in the qualifiers, his adventure cannot be seen as even slightly positive. The German plays better indoors, but so does the Finn, and the history of their past duels speaks for itself. Namely, Nieminen won in their last three encounters, two of which were played indoors, which suggests that he knows how to threaten Becker in those conditions. If we add his exceptional history at this tournament (three finals), as well as the fact that in five matches, Becker won only once here, Finn's win seems like a rather imminent scenario.