I had to give Richard Gasquet presser a miss to take these gems.
I knew Feliciano Lopez had a new haircut on Tuesday so I headed to court 1 to see him practice with Fernando Verdasco hoping to snap some pictures of his famous blond locks.
Insider source said that Gonzalez requested for a golf session yesterday.
RESULTS - THURSDAY, 1 OCTOBER, 2009
Singles - Second Round [2] F Verdasco (ESP) d K Beck (SVK) 64 60 [4] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] R Bopanna (IND) 64 36 64 [5] G Monfils (FRA) d M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 64 62 [6] T Berdych (CZE) d S Greul (GER) 63 46 63 R Gasquet (FRA) d [WC] J Johansson (SWE) 46 76(1) 62
Doubles - Quarterfinals [1] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d A Golubev (KAZ) / D Istomin (UZB) 57 64 10-1 [3] M Damm (CZE) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 64 62 S Huss (AUS) / S Lipsky (USA) d M Elgin (RUS) / F Moser (GER) 63 62
ORDER OF PLAY - FRIDAY, 2 OCTOBER, 2009
CENTER COURT start 12:00 noon [3] R Soderling (SWE) vs [6] T Berdych (CZE) Not Before 2:30 PM [1] N Davydenko (RUS) vs [5] G Monfils (FRA) Not Before 5:45 PM M Youzhny (RUS) vs [4] F Gonzalez (CHI) Not Before 8:00 PM R Gasquet (FRA) vs [2] F Verdasco (ESP) (Image by Proton Malaysian Open)
The ATP 250 PROTON Malaysian Open hasn't end but HCFoo's Tennis Blog has officially named Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson, Mr Congeniality for the year 2009.
Not only that I've seen him practice with Rendy Lu Yen-hsun earlier this week, the Swede wild card recipient and former top 10 player also partnered with Malaysian wild card Si Yew Ming in the doubles event yesterday.
However, his bids in the singles and doubles events came to an end after he was defeated by Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-7, 2-6 and by Brazilians Marcelo Melo-Andre Sa 1-6, 7-5, 3-10.
I managed to chase Pim Pim down after his practice. I've got to say that he's the most humble (the other player is Rafael Nadal) and nicest guy I've met on tour.
I've been neglecting other tournaments lately to provide exclusive coverage on the Malaysian Open.
So here's a little bit of updates regarding the PTT Thailand Open.
Gilles Simon, Robby Ginepri and John Isner attended a promotional/traditional event for the tournament yesterday.
They did a Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) demonstration guided by Thai Olympian Somjit Jongjorhor. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did the same thing last year.
I hope the other guys take good care of Simon. He and his 'chicken legs' look too fragile for this sport :P
Here are more pictures at the event.
By the way, if you haven't know yet, Sam Querrey had a freak accident earlier this week while practicing for the Thailand Open.
Querrey was said to have sat on a glass table after practice on Monday and fell through, cutting his right forearm. The injury required immediate emergency surgery.
I had to give Richard Gasquet presser a miss to take these gems.
