Kleybanova, Chan Yung-jan/ Zheng Jie win WTA Malaysian Open

Alisa Kleybanova won her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open today after beating favourite Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Russian final.

“It has been a tough week with many tough sets and matches. I’m just so happy to finally claim my first title,” the fourth-seeded Kleybanova said.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this moment, training hard and playing in many tournaments. Everything came together in the final and I would like to thank Elena for the good match.”

Meanwhile, Zheng Jie and Chan Yung-jan defeated sisters Anastasia and Arina Rodionova 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-7 to win the doubles title.

This is their first title in just their second event together and earned $11,000 each for the victory.

Personally, I had a blast through the entire week at the WTA Malaysian Open. Hope to see more players in action again next year!

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Chinese stars Zheng Jie & Peng Shuai shine at Australian Open

Chinese tennis stars Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai shine for Asia on the second day of the Australian Open, but regional hopes were dented as Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn bowed out.

Perhaps Zheng is Asia’s best hopes after her fellow countryman Li Na bowed out of the tournament due to injury.

“It was tough out there, hot and windy, so it wasn’t comfortable but it was a good win,” Zheng said after defeated Camille Pin 6-3, 6-3.

Along with Peng, she joins Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, India’s Sania Mirza and Taiwan’s Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun in the next round.

Also through is Chan Yung-jan, who won an all-Taiwanese battle against Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-3.

Japan’s Ayumi Morita was a first-round casualty, losing to Germany’s Tatjana Malek 7-6 (4), 6-2 as she joined Nishikori and Tamarine on an early departure.

Peng battled past Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (4), 6-1 but fellow Chinese Meng Yuan failed to repeat her success last year against Serena Williams who revenged with the score 6-3, 6-2.

There were high expectations for Nishikori but he was unable to overcome Austria’s Jurgen Melzer which resulted him to lost 5-7, 2-6, 1-6.

There were also similar hopes for the experienced Tamarine after her successful at the Wimbledon last year where she reached the quarterfinal. But she lost focus against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, losing in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

(Via jakartaglobe.com; Images via sports.sina.com, nikkansports.com)