KEY POINTS:
Doubles contests alongside a New Zealand tennis player ranked more than 400 places below him are now Jarkko Nieminen's only chance of serious match practice before next week's Australian Open.
Nieminen's defence of the Heineken Open crown he won in Auckland last year was a short one after
he was beaten 7-6 6-1 yesterday in the first round of this year's tournament by Olivier Rochus, of Belgium.
His only chances of match practice for the rest of the week, which he needs after he lost training time last month due to a stomach virus, comes in the doubles where he partners Dan King-Turner, of New Zealand.
"We practised two times and spent some time off the court," he said about King-Turner, who he only confirmed as a doubles partner a couple of days ago.
"He's a really nice guy and I'm really looking forward to playing doubles with him tomorrow."
The pair will have a good chance of advancing to at least the second round as they are playing Rubin and Oliver Statham, of New Zealand, tonight.
A win will see them take on the No 1 seeds Simon Aspelin, of Sweden, and Chris Haggard, of South Africa, who won their first round match yesterday.
It will be a big day today for King-Turner, who also plays world No 81 Juan Monaco, of Argentina, in the first round of the singles.
Nieminen, the fourth seed and ranked No 17 in the world, yesterday revealed that he lost a week of training due to a stomach virus.
"I had fever and I was throwing up for a few days," Nieminen said.
"The thing is that I was really practising well in the offseason. I was in good form and then I got sick a week ago.
"I couldn't practice for one week and I still feel that my game is not that good at the moment."
Rochus said he was pleased to win after two third-set tiebreak losses to Nieminen last year.
"Today was not the best match. I think both of us were very tired. Jarkko was tired from the virus he got last week and I was tired from the jet lag but anyway to win is good," he said.
"That was a very tough first round and I'm very happy to get through."
Rochus will play King-Turner or Monaco in the second round.
His victory means there will be two Belgians in the second round after Kristof Vliegen, ranked No 39 in the world, beat Janko Tipsarevic, of Serbia, 7-6 6-0 in yesterday's first match.
Top seed Tommy Robredo made it through to the second round with an easy 6-2 6-1 win over his Spanish compatriot Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the evening session.
Robredo, ranked No 7 in the world after being as high as No 5 last year, said he was happy with the ease of his win given the windy conditions.
"It was difficult today with the wind. It was not easy to go for the lines all the time," he said.
"I just thought it would be a lot better to be patient and make long rallies and I was more solid than Ruben today.
"It's great to win the first match and hopefully I can do the same in the next couple."
Robredo will play compatriot Alberto Martin in the second round after Martin beat the flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4 6-4.
Another Spaniard, third seed David Ferrer, was given a tougher time in his first round clash but was able to get past Argentinian Gaston Gaudio in a 2-1/2 hour contest.
Gaudio, a former French Open champion, won the first set 7-5 but the Spaniard picked his game up to take the remaining sets 6-3 6-2.
"He had more chances (in the first set) but in the second and third, physically I was maybe better than him."
Ferrer's second round opponent will be Italian Daniele Bracciali, who beat Gilles Simon, of France 6-3 6-2.
Other first round winners were Philipp Kohlschreiber, of Germany, who beat Luis Horna, of Peru, 6-4 7-5, and Florent Serra, of France, a 6-3 1-6 6-4 winner over Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti.
Along with King-Turner's match, the feature contests today include second seed Mario Ancic, of Croatia, taking on big-serving Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol and former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, facing Nicolas Massu, of Chile.
- NZPA