David Ferrer in Kuala Lumpur

 

I will definitely attend this tennis event next year.  It's too bad I can't make it this year.  I would've loved to see David Ferrer play!  Oh well, I hope he does well this year so that he will come back next year!

Marcos Baghdatis Finally Gets Into A Final This Year in Kuala Lumpur

A couple of quarterfinals and a semifinal appearance in S'Hertogenbosch - that has been the year for Marcos Baghdatis (#60) - so I'm sure it came as a welcome surprise to many that he reached the finals here in Kuala Lumpur, when he was just granted a wildcard.  He lost however, to Janko Tipsarevic (#17) 46 57.

He, however, had wins over Viktor Troicki (#15) 63 61 in the semifinals, Austrian Jurgen Melzer (#21) 63 76(3) in the quarters and American Alex Bogomolov (#40) in the first round 64 76(4).

Janko Tipsarevic Wins Maiden Title in Kuala Lumpur

Another Serbian player is making his presence felt in the ATP Tour.  Already ranked at #17, Janko Tipsarevic wins his first ever title in Kuala Lumpur, defeating Marcos Baghdatis (#60) 64 75.  In the semifinals, he edged Kei Nishikori (#54) of Japan 64 63.  In the quarters, Nikolay Davydenko (#36) retired, allowing Janko to proceed to the semifinals.

Michaella Krajicek Reaches Semis of Kuala Lumpur

Michaella Krajicek (NED) (#150) has three WTA titles but the last one came in 2006, a long time ago, and in the past few years, her ranking has slipped outside the Top 100.  This week though, she reaches her first semifinal of the year in Kuala Lumpur, where she lost to Jelena Dokic.  This was her path to the semifinals -

SF - lost to Jelena Dokic (AUS) (#91) 26 36
QF - Anne Kremer (LUX) (#169) 62 63
2R - Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) (#24) 36 64 63
1R - Tatjana Malek (GER) (#144) 63 62

Jarmila Groth Gets to the Semis in Kuala Lumpur

After winning Hobart earlier this year, reaching the semis in Kuala Lumpur, has been the second best performance of Jarmila Groth (AUS) (#31).  She lost to Lucie Safarova.  This was her path to the semi's -

SF - lost to Lucie Safarova (CZE) (#35) 26 63 36
QF - Ayumi Morita (JPN) (#57) 75 36 75
2R - Misaki Doi (JPN) (#124) 76(6) 63
1R - Shengnan Sun (CHN) (#232) 76(2) 63

Lucie Safarova Makes the Finals in Kuala Lumpur

In her best performance yet this year, Lucie Safarova (CZE) (#35) reached her first finals of the year.  Before this, her best performance has been a quarterfinal in Brisbane and a third round appearance in the Australian Open.  Below was her path to the final -

F - lost to Jelena Dokic (AUS) 62 67(9) 46
SF - Jarmila Groth (AUS) 62 36 63
QF - Marion Bartoli (FRA) (#17) 61 64
2R - Dinara Safina (RUS) (#113) 63 46 63
1R - Zarina Diyas (KAZ) (#152) 75 61

Jelena Dokic Returns to the Winners' Circle

Jelena Dokic's (#91) last title came in 2002, a slew of five titles she won when she was at her peak (Rome, Tokyo, Moscow, Sarasota, Birmingham).  And it was downhill after that.  There were flashes of her brilliance, including that dream quarterfinal run in the Australian Open 2009.  This week, she finally breaks her losing streak, and wins title #6 in Kuala Lumpur! 

I've always been a fan of Jelena and it's really a pity that she hasn't been able to achieve her full potential.  But there's time yet, and this year looks it's going to be a good year for her! 

This was her path to the championship -

F - Lucie Safarova (CZE) (#35) 26 76(9) 64
SF - Michaella Krajicek (NED) (150) 62 63
QF - Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) (#55) 76(4) 62
2R - Kurumi Nara (JPN) (#131) 36 76(6) 62
1R - Francesca Schiavone (ITA) (#5) 26 76(1) 64