Rotterdam - Flying Finn Jarkko Nieminen re-asserted his dominance over Mario Ancic, knocking the fifth seed out in the first round of the €765 000 (about R5,5-million) Rotterdam Open 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) on Wednesday.
The win was the second meeting in as many months between a pair ranked just five spots apart on the computer.
The 26th-ranked Nieminen won his first career title in early January in Auckland at the Croatian's expense after also beating Ancic on clay in Munich last season.
Czech sixth seed Radek Stepanek powered off to a fast start at the Ahoy arena as he took out Swiss lucky loser Michael Lammer 6-4, 6-2.
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A trio of Britons were due on court later, with Tim Henman testing his sore back in the first round against Swedish fourth seed Thomas Johansson.
Greg Rusedski was playing for a spot in the quarter-finals as he faced second seed Nikolay Davydenko, who complained of a foot injury during his first-round win.
British surprise Arvind Parmar, ranked a distant 230, was hoping to follow up on his shock defeat Tuesday of Paradorn Srichaphan, squaring off against German qualifier Dominik Meffert, who stands eight spots below him.
Nieminen won his first set against Ancic, losing finalist last weekend in Marseille against Arnaud Clement, with a break in the penultimate game.
The Finn then claimed a second-set tiebreaker to move into the second round against Frenchman Gilles Simon. - Sapa-AFP
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