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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.

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