Swedish tennis star Jonas Bjorkman loses final career singles match in Stockholm

Swedish tennis legend Jonas Bjorkman (pictured) played his final professional tennis match of his singles career today, losing 6-2, 6-4, to lucky loser Juan Monaco in the first round of the If Stockholm Open. He finished his remarkable singles career with six titles and a 414-362 record. Since turning pro in 1991, one of his six career singles titles included the 1997 Stockholm title. In early November in 1997, Bjorkman reached a career high ranking of No. 4 in the world.

"It was a very emotional match," said Bjorkman, who made his Stockholm debut as a 20-year-old in 1992. "I felt I could have played a lot better than I did because I was playing well during practice during the last weeks."

Bjorkman’s final career singles win came against Frenchman Arnaud Clement in July in the first round at the Masters Series Canada. Bjorkman still has the doubles tournament to look forward to in Stockholm before his career is 100 percent complete. A winner of 697 career doubles matches, Bjorkman will partner with Kevin Ullyett on Wednesday to compete in his 1,000th career doubles match, as they take on American’s Scott Lipsky and David Martin in the second round. Bjorkman has won 52 career doubles titles including nine grand slam titles.

All the seeded players in action on Tuesday advanced to the second round, as No. 1 David Nalbandian led the way with an easy straight set victory over his opponent. No. 2 seed Mario Ancic and No. 5 seed Rainer Schuettler were also winners on Day Two in Sweden.

Nalbandian, who is currently ranked No. 7 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, lost only 3 points on his first serve and eight points overall throughout his 56 minute, 6-1, 6-1, route over former Vanderbilt University star Bobby Reynolds. The Argentine star was able to break serve five times today, while Reynolds could not convert on his two break point opportunities.

No. 2 seed Ancic rebounded after an early exit in Metz last week by defeating Belgian Olivier Rochus, 7-6(2), 6-2, in just under one and a half hours. Ancic hammered 19 aces and lost only two points on his first serve throughout the match. Ancic broke serve three times today while Rochus broke serve only once. The win marked Ancic’s 30th win of the season and earned him a second round match against Steve Darcis who beat Olivier’s brother Christophe in the first round, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. This is the fourth time Ancic has played the Stockholm event.

No. 5 Schuettler, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon this year, came out red hot against hard-hitting Australian Chris Guccione, winning, 6-0, 6-3. The 32-year-old German lost only 10 service points throughout the match and was able to break Guccione’s serve on four of ten opportunities. Guccione, who is known for smashing a lot of aces, was held to just six aces this afternoon. Schuettler has been playing remarkable tennis recently, having reached the semifinals in Beijing at the China Open two weeks ago and the quarterfinals at last week’s AIG Japan Open in Tokyo. Schuettler started the year ranked at No. 94 but currently stands at a remarkable ranking of No. 34. The veteran, who once reached the Australian Open finals, will next meet Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador for a spot in the quarterfinals.

A noteworthy match that closed out the Tuesday night session in Stockholm was the match between Sweden’s Joachim Johansson and France’s Nicolas Mahut. Johansson, who once was considered Sweden’s best hope for winning a grand slam singles title, came out of retirement to play in this event this week. Once ranked as high as No. 9 in the world, Johansson retired February of this year due to persistent shoulder injuries. He recently said his shoulder felt much better and that he would play this week in Stockholm and consider returning to the ATP Tour full-time in 2009. To make things better and make playing in 2009 a reality, Johansson upset Mahut this evening, 7-5, 7-6(5), to advance to the second round where he will next face top-seeded Argentine Nalbandian. With his win this evening, the World No. 771 earned his first singles victory since beating Argentine Carlos Berlocq in the first round at this tournament last year.