ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Finland's Jarkko Nieminen kept Alex Corretja winless in 2003, handing him a first-round defeat Monday at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Nieminen ousted the seventh seed from Spain, 6-4, 6-0, at the $800,000 indoor event. The Finn also reached the second round last week at Marseille, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer, and appeared in the semifinals last month in Milan.
Corretja was playing just his second tournament of the year. He was a first-round loser last month at the Australian Open.
Eighth seed Sjeng Schalken, Holland's No. 1 player, opened with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus. A semifinalist at the U.S. Open last year, Schalken improved to just 3-3 this season.
Schalken's win prevented a meeting between the Rochus brothers after Olivier Rochus routed Austria's Stefan Koubek, 6-2, 6-1.
Also Monday, Max Mirnyi of Belarus outlasted Croatian qualifier Mario Ancic, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, and Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty defeated Romania's Adrian Voinea, 6-4, 6-2.
