Skip to main content

Lopez Stamps His Mark, Malaysian Pair Shown The Exit

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 (Bernama) -- It was a display of high level tennis mixed with wisdom of 15 years experience from fifth seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the Malaysian Open played at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil here Wednesday.

In a highly charged match against Lukas Lacko of Slovakia tonight, the 31-year old nailed five aces and used tricky slice backhand shots to edge out the later 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), thus securing himself a slot in the second round.

"It was a tough match. I did not play good in the early rounds but later managed to win six straight points in the second set," said Lopez who turned professional at the age of 16.

The world no 32 will next take on Igor Sijsling of Netherland.

Other players who moved in into the second round today included Alejandro Falla of Colombia, Alex Bogomolov of Russia, Dennis Istomin of Uzbekistan and 2010 champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

Canadian Vasek Pospisil and seventh seeded Julien Benneteau of France became the first two players to reach the quarterfinals after disposing their respective Michael Yani of United States 6-3, 7-5 and Australian Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-2, respectively.

Malaysia's men's doubles wildcard entry Mohd Assri Merzuki and Syed Mohd Agil Syed Naguib bowed out to top seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 1-6, 3-6.

Results:

Men's singles first round:

Alejandro Falla (COL) bt Rajeev Ram (USA)(retired) 7-6(4), 4-2;

Alex Bogomolov (RUS) bt Dominic Inglot (GBR) 7-5, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) bt Sanam Singh (IND) 7-5, 6-4; Denis Istomim (UZB) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-3, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Lukas Lacko (SVK) 6-3, 7-6(3).

Men's singles second round:

Vasek Pospisil (CAN) bt Michael Yani (USA) 6-3, 7-5; Julien Benneteau (FRA) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 7-5, 6-2.

Men's doubles first round:

Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski (POL) bt Mohd Assri Merzuki/Syed Mohd Agil Syed Naguib (MAS) 6-1, 6-3; Michael Kohlmann/Frank Moser (GER) bt Treat Conrad Huey (PHI)/Dominic Inglot (GBR) 5-7, 6-3, 11-9; Vasek Pospisil (CAN)/Sanam Singh (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-4, 6-4.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more