Romania's Copil advances to second round of Topshelf Open 2015 ATP tournament in s-Hertogenbosch

Romanian tennis player Marius Copil on Monday evening advanced to the second round of the men's singles event of the 537,050-euro ATP grass tournament in s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, after defeating Finnish Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Copil, 24, currently world's no. 196, defeated Nieminen, nine years his senior and currently no 91 in the ATP ranking, in one hour and 39 minutes.

Copil scored no less than 12 aces, to Nieminen's two. This is his first win against the Finnish player, who defeated the Romanian in the first round of the 2011 Stockholm Open, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and in the 2012 Davis Cup World Group play-offs, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (4).

For his performance so far, Copil has secured 9,360 euros and 20 ATP points. In the second round, he meets Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 32 and no. 34 ATP, the fourth favourite of the tournament and the winner of the 2015 Bucharest Open. He has never played against the Spaniard before.

In the opening of the men's doubles event, Romanian Horia Tecau and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer are the main favourites and they are scheduled to play against the Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan)/Oliver Marach (Austria) double. AGERPRES