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Posted at 6:43 a.m., Friday, October 26, 2007

Tennis: Nieminen upsets Gonzalez at Swiss Indoors

Associated Press

BASEL, Switzerland — Jarkko Nieminen upset second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-5 today in the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors.

In his third semifinal of the year, Nieminen will play 2005 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who beat eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Nieminen scored his first win against Gonzalez in five attempts. He wasted two match points while leading 5-4. Nieminen fought off three break points before gaining his third match point and converting it with a backhand down the line.

"I played very good tennis last year, but I could not beat top 10 guys," Nieminen said. "This has been a very up and down year, but I got my confidence back this week."

Gonzalez, who won the Basel tournament in 2005, hurt his chances of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup. He is one of 20 players competing for the last three spots at the Masters Cup next month. The event features the top eight players.

"I still have a good chance to go, I am not secure yet but I am very close," Gonzalez said. "It's up to me. If I play well in Paris, I will go."

The Paris Masters is the last tournament before the Masters Cup.

The Chilean is seventh in the race, with the top five already qualified — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick.