Nieminen makes history for Finland

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) Jarkko Nieminen became the first Finnish man to reach a quarter-final at Wimbledon but he had to fight tooth and nail to beat Russian Dmitry Tursonov 7-5 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 today.

It will be Nieminen's second second grand slam quarter-final apperance after the 2005 U.S. Open where he lost to Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Nieminen, the 22nd seed, looked comfortable with a two set lead before Tursonov, the 27th seed, fought his way back, taking the next two sets 7-2 and 8-6 on tiebreaks and saving two match points, one of them in a thrilling 42-stroke rally.

But the determined Finn held his nerve in the fifth set, piling the pressure on the Russian who finally cracked when dropping his serve in the 13th game. Tursonov was docked a point after firing a ball towards the umpire in frustration.

Nieminen then held his serve for a stamina-sapping victory.

Reuters DH VP0025