A decade-and-a-half after launching his professional career, an emotional Jarkko Nieminen —the greatest tennis player Finland has ever produced — bid farewell to the singles game on Tuesday at the If Stockholm Open, where he was defeated in three sets by Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4.

The three-time finalist was making his 16^th consecutive tournament appearance in Stockholm. He was a finalist in 2001 (l. to Sjeng Schalken), 2006 (l. to James Blake) and 2011 (l. to Gael Monfils). During his career, the 34-year-old lefthander captured two singles and five ATP World Tour doubles titles, and reached a career-high No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in July 2006.

The soon-to-be retiree held two match points at 6-4 in the second-set tiebreak, but couldn’t close out his opponent. Almagro proved too powerful from the service stripe in the opening-round contest. He registered 15 aces and won 91 percent (45 of 49) of his first-serve points.

Nieminen broke into tears at the conclusion of the two-hour, eight-minute match, the crowd showing its support for the wildcard entrant’s long career.

“It’s amazing how Swedish people have supported me since the beginning,” said Nieminen. “I’ve always felt that there was a little Swedish tennis culture in me, not only for the support I get, but all the time that I have spent here I think I have learned a lot.” 

Nieminen remains in the doubles draw with Johan Brunström, who he partnered to the 2010 final (l. to Butorac-Rojer). The duo will face No. 4 seeds Jonathan Marray/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi on Wednesday.

Nieminen’s Career Highlights

• Three Grand Slam quarter-finals: 2005 US Open, 2006 Wimbledon, 2008 Australian Open

• Earned 400th singles win on Mar. 8, 2015 (d. Benjamin Balleret in Davis Cup)

• Winningest player in Finland’s 88-year Davis Cup history (59-26)

• Two singles and five doubles titles on ATP World Tour

• 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympian

• 1999 US Open junior champion