The First Round of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur continued on Tuesday with the highest seed in action being Spaniard Pablo Andujar, who took care of French World Number 205 Gregoire Burquier 6-4 6-2. The opening rounds of 250 tournaments often represent potential banana skins for seeded players who are coming up against relatively unknown opponents.
On Nick Kyrgios “his talent and potential is not in question, but he needs to find a way to win this kind of match”
The first upset came in an all Australian clash between Marinko Matosevic and Nick Kyrgios. Neither players are shrinking violets and it was a high quality affair. Matosevic eventually upset the eighth seed in consecutive tie-breaks, winning 7-6(4) 7-6(3). Kyrgios had all the momentum in the second set, but failed to capitalise. His talent and potential is not in question, but he needs to find a way to win this kind of match.
Troubled Australian Bernard Tomic has endured a difficult season and this was compounded by a loss to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in three close sets. The match was eventually decided by a tie break in the final set, with Herbert coming out victories 6-4 3-6 7-6(7).
In a battle of the qualifiers Britain James Ward fell just short, losing to German Phillip Petzschner in three sets. The German has a singles ranking of 524 in the world and only entered the qualifying because he was also entered into the Malasyian Open doubled tournament with Jurgen Melzer. It is now looking like an inspired decision for the 30 year old, who is rewarded with a Second Round clash with second seed Ernests Gulbis.
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First seed and home favourite Kei Nishikori headlines Wednesday’s schedule, facing American Rajeev Ram. Nishikori is looking to maintain an incredible run of form that took him to the US Open final and will look to avoid a slump that many players suffer from following their breakout tournament.
Fourth seed Julien Benneteau also opens his Asian swing against wild card Filip Krajinovic of Serbia. The Frenchman will be looking to put in some strong performances up until the end of the season with the objective of forcing his way into the French Davis Cup squad for the final.
Let me know who you think will succeed at the Malaysian Open and which player is going to dominate the Asian swing?
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