Johansson crashes out

Playing on home turf did not help Thomas Johansson in his first-round match on Wednesday at the Stockholm Open. The 33-year-old suffered a 6-3 3-6 6-3 loss to seventh-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain. While Johansson has not claimed a singles championship since October 2005, the Swede has been energised by the partisan crowd here in the past. He won this hardcourt tournament in 2000 and 2004, was a runner-up in 1998 and had reached the quarter-finals or better in seven of his 12 previous appearances. However, Johansson has dropped to 87th in the world rankings and fell to 15-22 this season with Wednesday's defeat. Number three seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland survived a scare before advancing with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-5 first-round win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. The 27-year-old Nieminen, who reached the final here in 2001 and... [read full story]