Wiped out!

All Malaysian players were wiped out from the qualifying round today.

I'm not surprised.

The only thing that surprised me was the poor line-up chosen by the national coach. Yeah, that's it. I'm not going to comment further.

Now check out the final scores here as well as the OOP for tomorrow.

Qualifying Singles - First Round Results
Qualifying - B Evans (USA) d [WC] M Bin Othman (MAS) 6-0, 6-0
Qualifying - M Kukushkin (KAZ) d [WC] A Bin Zainuddin (MAS) 6-2, 6-2
Qualifying - M Yani (USA) d S Huss (AUS) 6-2, 6-2
Qualifying - R Bopanna (IND) d [WC] K Balakrishnan (MAS) 6-2, 6-0
Qualifying - W Jun (KOR) d [WC] N Khan (MAL) 7-5, 6-2
Qualifying - A Qureshi (PAK) d [WC] K Somasundram (MAL) 6-1, 6-1
Qualifying - M Fyrstenberg (POL) d Y Si (MAS) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(1)
Qualifying - S Lipsky (USA) d A Jaya (MAS) 6-2, 6-2

ORDER OF PLAY - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
CENTER COURT start 10:00 am
Qualifying - B Evans (USA) vs W Jun (KOR)
Qualifying - M Kukushkin (KAZ) vs A Qureshi (PAK)
Qualifying - R Bopanna (IND) vs M Fyrstenberg (POL)
Qualifying - M Yani (USA) vs S Lipsky (USA)

Click image to enlarge

Tough draw at the Malaysian Open

I was at the Main Draw Ceremony and it was a great honour to see Tomas Berdych there for the first time since he landed this country on Thursday.

To cut the story short (need to run for another assignment later), here's the draw story.

The top four seeds at the new Proton Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur 2009, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco, Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez have gained the benefit of first round byes.

Eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt will start against his sister’s former boyfriend, wild card recipient Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson.

Fifth seed Gael Monfils who will be on a late arrival in KL will take on Denis Istomin.

Sixth seed Tomas Berdych who was on hand to help with the draw, is feeling confident having come off a very successful Davis Cup campaign last weekend that saw his team, the Czech Republic, reach the final of the event by defeating Croatia. Berdych will face Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

Wild cards Taylor Dent and Marcos Baghdatis have drawn Andrey Golubev and Rendy Lu Yen-hsun respectively.

Here's the complete main draw for singles doubles events.

Click image to enlarge

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Welcoming Rendy Lu Yen-hsun to Malaysia (updated)

I was at the airport today to welcome Asia's no.1 player Rendy Lu Yen-hsun to Malaysia.

This is the first time in 8 years that Rendy visits Malaysia, the last time was for the Davis Cup tournament.

I'm going to conduct a casual interview with him and watch him practice tomorrow. So, do stay tune.

In the meanwhile, hope you'll enjoy these pictures.

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Pim Pim receives Wild Card to play at the Malaysian Open

Pim Pim during his prime years

Former top 10 player, Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson has been awarded a singles and doubles wild card into the Proton Malaysian Open, which begins today.

The Swedish joins Taylor Dent and Marcos Baghdatis as wild cards recipients.

In addition to receiving the singles main draw wild card, Johansson has also been given a main draw doubles wild card slot and he will be teaming up with a Malaysian player, possibly Si Yew Ming, who gains wild card entry to play in the singles qualifying round.

Due to his injuries and the surgeries he underwent, Johansson, who briefly retired from tennis only to launch a comeback in 2008, saw his ranking drop to No. 774 in January. He has brought his ranking up to 451 this week.

(Via tennisweek.com)