NST Online: Sports

Tennis / Malaysian Open: Quality fare despite withdrawals

Posted: 24 Sep 2011 05:14 PM PDT

2011/09/25
By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

Spain's World No 12 Nicolas Almagro will be hoping to land his first indoor hard court title.

THE Asian swing of the ATP Tour has been hit by withdrawals but fans in Kuala Lumpur can still expect an exciting week ahead in the RM3 million Malaysian Open.

The tournament, at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, may have lost its defending champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and top seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic but this year's player list looks good with other top draws.

Spain's World No 12 Nicolas Almagro, Serbia's Viktor Troicki, Janko Tipsarevic and Austria's US Open doubles champion Jurgen Melzer are the top four seeds in the tournament. All four received first round byes.

Almagro, a clay court specialist with 10 career titles, will be hoping to clinch his first indoor hard court tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

The top seed faces either Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin or compatriot Albert Ramos in the second round while

Troicki, the second seed, takes on either Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin or a qualifier.

Troicki hopes to continue his winning streak in Asia with a third straight title. He won the singles in Bangkok in 2009 and followed up with a win in doubles last year.

Tipsarevic, a Davis Cup champion, has not won a title despite reaching four career finals while Melzer will be the one to watch as the 30-year-old is brimming with confidence after victory in doubles at the US Open.

The most anticipated match in the first round, however, is between Russia's 2009 champion Nikolay Davydenko and the United States' Ryan Harrison.

Davydenko, the World No 31, has won an outdoor title in Munich while Harrison, the World No 82, has reached two semi-finals this year. It will be their first meeting on the tour.

"It will be a difficult match as Davydenko will want to maintain Russia's stranglehold in this event," said Harrison yesterday.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and Alex Bogom olov Jr. of the United States face each other in the first round with the former winning their only previous encounter five years ago.

The match between two wild cards -- Australia's World No 137 Matthew Ebden and Belgium's World 223 David Goffen is the other anticipated clash on the cards.

The singles and doubles main draw start tomorrow.

Meanwhile, none of the local players won their first round qualifying match yesterday.

Si Yew Ming, the national champion, played respectable tennis but still lost 6-4, 6-2 to World No 558 Stanislav Poplavskyy.

Compatriot Ariez Elyaas Deen Heshaam fizzled out after a good opening set in his 6-4, 6-0 defeat to China's Zhang, Ze.

Ahmad Deedat Abdul Razak and Wan Abdul Muiz Wan Abdul Aziz were also outclassed by experienced opponents.

Hockey: Coach warns TNB against complacency

Posted: 24 Sep 2011 05:08 PM PDT

2011/09/25
By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

TNB's Faizal Saari and YNS goalkeeper Nasir Ahmed face-off on Friday. TNB won 3-0. — Picture by Fariz Iswadi Ismail.

TENAGA Nasional Berhad (TNB) coach Lailin Abu Hassan has warned his players not to be overconfident when they face UniKL in today's TNB-MHL Premier Division match at the National Hockey Stadium.

TNB are hoping to finally hit peak form following unconvincing wins of late while UniKL want to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to Sapura on Friday.

Lailin hopes his team will finally show their true colours today.

"UniKL are a fit team with many talented players. We cannot take them lightly as they are energetic," said Lailin yesterday.

"I will likely make some tactical changes to counter UniKL's fast pace style of play."

UniKL manager Amir Azhar Ibrahim said his team need to work on their composure to win matches.

"We led for 64 minutes against Sapura before they hit back with two quick goals.

"It was a waste as my boys controlled almost the entire match. I do not want this to happen again," said Amir.

On today's match, he said his side must play a tight game to contain TNB.

"We cannot afford to play an open game as TNB are an experienced side," added Amir.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Sabtu, 24 September 2011

NST Online: Sports

NST Online: Sports

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