James Blake and Jarkko Nieminen will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when the two veterans do battle in a surprising semifinal at the Stockholm Open on Saturday, Oct 22.Blake is dominating the head-to-head series 6-1 and all seven meetings have come on hard courts. Nieminen, however, won their most recent encounter and it came at this very same event last year, with the Finn cruising to a 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal rout.

Now Blake has a chance to regain the upper hand over his opponent, in part thanks to a fortuitous turn of events on Friday. The American had been slated to face David Nalbandian, who was coming off an awesome performance against Ivan Dodig. Nalbandian, though, pulled out prior to the quarterfinal clash due to a leg injury, Tennnistalk reported.