Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Blurred Selfie with the Cute Alexander Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan

I feel bad!  My selfie with Kazakhstan's Alexander Nedovyesov is blurred!  Kainis! He's so cute pa naman!  I haven't seen him play yet though.  I think he's doing doubles with compatriot Mikhail Kukushkin

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Meet and Greet with Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan

Mikhail Kukushkin is now Kazakhstan's #1 player and he's playing his best tennis right now, reaching a career high of #48. He should reach the quarterfinals here and maybe even deeper, since everyone seems jetlagged coming from St. Petersburg, Russia.

He signed my souvenir program and as you can see here, we had out selfie together!

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: German Player Mischa Zverev

There are two Zverev's this tournament, Mischa and Alexander. I don't know how they are related to each other but I only know Mischa.  He had to qualify to be in the main draw.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Player from New Zealand Artem Sitak

This is the first time I've seen Artem Sitak from New Zealand play.  He's one of the qualifiers in this tournament. Unfortunately, he did not make it into the first round.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Polish Player Michal Pryzsieszny

I got an autograph and picture from Polish player Michal Prysieszny two years ago.  I think, that time, he didn't have to qualify.  This year, though, he had to, and he got to the main draw in a breeze - disposing of all his opponents with ease.

However, in his first round match against former champion Joao Sousa, he was putty in Sousa's hands!  His best was nowhere near Sousa's accurate shots.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Japanese Player Yasutaka Uchiyama

Two Japanese qualifiers made it to the first round.  One was Yuichi Sugita, the second one is Yasutaka Uchiyama, shown here in his winning match against Italian Lucca Vanni.

Uchiyama though, lost his first round match against Canadian Vasek Pospisil 63 64.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Italian Player Luca Vanni

Luca Vanni is the only qualifier here who reached the final of an ATP tour this year.  He wasn't able to reach the main draw here though as he lost to the Japanese player Yasutaka Uchiyama.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Sample of an Order of Play

Unlike the complex draw boards one sees in the entrances to the venue of the grand slams, the Order of Play in this tournament is just a humble piece of paper.  Nothing wrong with that.  It contains all the information you need!  This is usually posted in a bulletin board in the reception area in the lobby of the Putra stadium.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Some Random Audience Photos

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: A Glimpse of the Ball Boys.....and A Ball Girl

Here are some pictures of the ball boys in this tournament - and there's one ball girl too!

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Serena Can Outserve These Guys' Second Serves!

The second serve would naturally be slower than the first serve.

Even, then, Serena can still outserve these guys! Her average second serve speed in Wimbledon is 148kph. These two random samples of 128kph and 142kph are even slower than hers!

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: A Sample of the Qualifiers' Speed of First Serves

Here's a sample of the speed of the first serves of the qualifiers.  I just took it at random.  I can't remember which speed is for Donati or Sugita.  You can see there 178kph and 193kph.  To put this in perspective, Serena Williams' average speed for her first serves in the 2014 US Open was 173kph.  So some of Serena's serves can be faster than these guys!

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Japanese Qualifier Yuichi Sugita

Japanese Yuichi Sugita was able to reach the main draw.  Here he is with some pictures during his match with Italian player Matteo Donati.  There had been a small Japanese cheering contingent during the matches of the different Japanese players, including Yuichi. He lost to Radek Stepanek in his first round match 76(6) 60.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Italian Player Matteo Donati

This is the first time I've encountered Italian player, Matteo Donati.  He looks young and he's a bit cute!  He does play well, he just wasn't able to capitalize on the most important moments and lost to the Japanese player, Yuichi Sugita.  He fails to reach the main draw of the singles.

Malaysian Open Tennis 2015: Philipp Petzschner vs. Mischa Zverev

In an all-German qualifying match, both Petzschner and Zverev played almost toe to toe in both sets, with the first set ending in a tiebreaker.  Actually, it was really a close contest, it's just that in the points where it really mattered, it was Mischa who was able to come up with the passing shots.  I expect Zverev to go all the way to the first round.