Malaysian Sports - Today's back pages!

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Third seed Kei Nishikori of Japan was made to sweat before securing himself a slot in the men's singles quarterfinal of the Malaysian Open held at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil here today. The world number 17 booted out Spaniard Albert Ramos (world number 48) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1 after a gruelling two hour and 13 minutes match. "I was struggling in the first set, probably because I was nervous, then I started to play more aggressive and not make many mistakes," said the 23 year old who was cheered by the home crowd here. The Asian number one, who is scheduled to face Russian Nikolay Davydenko, said he was not feeling like himself on the court Thursday night.

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 firs...

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- World number five David Ferrer of Spain is eyeing victory in his third appearance at the 2012 Malaysian Open title at Stadium Putra in Bukit Jalil, here, this week. The top seed, however, is not underestimating the line-up of players this year. "I've played in 2009 and 2010, so I would love to win this time. But there're good players around -- Monaco (Juan Monaco of Argentina) is one of them, Feliciano Lopez (of Spain), Kei Nishikori (Japan), Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, so it is going to be tough," he said. Known as a clay court specialist, the 30-year-old player has a good record this year by reaching two semifinals (French and US Open) as well as reaching November's Davis Cup final with his national team. "It's the best year of my career so far. I guess I've been playing really well, I'm happy, but now it's time to focus on this tournament and try to win," he said.