The Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort today was packed with action as the first round of singles draw matches, and doubles matches, of the BMW Malaysian Open 2011 got underway, much to the delight and pleasure of tennis fans from both near and far.
The final round of qualifying matches started simultaneously and fans were treated to a marathon of a match between Anne Kramer of Luxembourg and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, with Kramer continuing with her winning ways as she eliminated Voskoboeva 4 – 6, 7 – 6(5), 6 – 3.
In the all-Asian showdown match between Sun Shengnan of China and NudnidaLuangnam of Thailand on Court Two, the Thai lass went down fighting to the victorious Chinese player in straight sets 6 – 4, 7 – 5.
In the main draw, former Junior World number 3 Ayumi Morita of Japan continued with her tournament’s impressive form as she convincingly saw off the tame challenge of Darya Kustova of Belarus in straight sets, 6 – 2, 6 – 0 .
A rather pleased but dehydrated Morita said, “I may not be comfortable with the hot and humid weather here but I was bent on performing as best as I could, and I am pleased that I have made it through to the next round as it was not an easy match to play. This is my second consecutive year participating in this tournament and I am happy to be back, so I hope to do well for myself compared to last year’s outing.”
Meanwhile Zhang Shuai of China was taken to the limit by Chang Kai-chen of Chinese Taipei, before booking a place in the second round where she will be up against Ayumi. Zhang was on the verge of winning the match in straight sets as she served 6-5 up in the second after having won the first 6-4. However Chang broke her serve and raced to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker, extending it to 4-2 at one stage and eventually wrapped it up 7-3 to force the third set. The Chinese player got her act together in the third, winning 6-4.
In the LucieSafarova (Cze) and ZarinaDiyas (Kaz) match, both players held their serves in the first set. However the tournaments fifth seed Safarova broke her opponents serve to lead 6-5 before holding on to her own serve to take the first set 7-5. And it was akin to a walk in the park for Safarova as she easily wrapped up the match, winning the second 6-1.
The BMW Malaysian Open 2011, a leg of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour – the world’s leading professional sport for women is set to serve up the action to Malaysian audiences from 28th February to 6th March 2011 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. The tournament will see 32 single players and 16 doubles teams’ competing in a knockout style competition over the course of the seven day tournament for the prize purse of USD 220,000.00.