[CIMB Malaysia WISPA draw]            [CIMB Malaysia PSA draw]

Vanessa Atkinson Looks Sharp

Melissa Martin gets Natalie Grinham on the run, but can't stop the World #3 from advancing (photo © 2006 Alex Wan)

In Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, all sixteen seeds advanced in the PSA men's and WISPA women's draws of the CIMB Malaysian Open, 2006 edition.

All eyes are on the women's draw, where Vanessa Atkinson and Nicol David have their eyes on a potential showdown in the finals (yet again) for the world number one position.

Atkinson, coming off a scare regarding her lower back, which kept her out of the Hyderabad event earlier this month, had the best possible draw to get her going. Atkinson, in the past a notorious slow starter after significant breaks in competition, had to be happy drawing a very familiar opponent, fellow Dutch player Annelize Naude. Atkinson, playing with the confidence drawn from multiple past encounters with Naude in Holland, easily advanced to the second round, only surrendering eight points.

She faces, however, a very stiff test in the second round where she will place the strongly surging Tania Bailey, who put her opposition on notice that she continues her strong play. Bailey was solid in defeating Egyptian shotmaker Omneya Abdel Kawy.

On the other side of the draw, Nicol David played very solidly to beat the ever-dangerous Shelley Kitchen from New Zealand. Shelley Kitchen, a creative and offensive-minded player was not able to mount the expected challenge to David throughout the first two games, which went by quickly in David's favor. In the third, Kitchen called on some reserve determination and took a 5-1 lead into the third game, only to have David elevate her game and snuff out Kitchen's momentary momentum.

David now must face world #7 Madeline Perry, who passed up the Hyderabad event. Perry is the sort of player who is capable of keeping David on court for a very extended match. [Notes from Madeline Perry from KL] If that happens, it could be an interesting quarterfinals day.

The Grinham sisters both advanced easily. Rachael will be strongly favored over Vicky Botwright in their quarterfinal clash, simply due to the way their respective games match up. Sister Natalie Grinham is also strongly favored over Alison Waters, who knocked the up-and-down Jenny Ducalf out of the first round.

On the men's side, both Malaysian stars, Iskandar and Ong Beng Hee, advanced on opposite ends of the draw. Adrian Grant and Peter Barker lie in wait for those two Malaysian players.

Madeline Perry shook off some rust and defeated Rebecca Chiu. (photo © 2006 Alex Wan)

 

RESULTS:        CIMB Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, July 27 2006  

Men's Round of 16
Mohd Azlan Iskandar (Mas) (1) bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind) (Q) 11-8 11-9 11-9 (35m)
Shahid Zaman Pak) (5) bt  Khayal Muhammad Khan (Pak) 6-11 8-11 11-7 11-8 11-3 (52m)
Adrian Grant (Eng) (3) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) 11-5 11-8 11-6 (39m)
Jonathan Kemp (Eng) (7) bt Majid Khan (Pak) (Q) 11-5 11-5 11-7 (17m)
Mansoor Zaman (Pak) (8) bt Jean-Michel Arcucci (Fra)  11-6 11-6 11-10 (2-0)(46m) 
Peter Barker (Eng) (4) bt Hisham Mohd Ashour (Egy) 11-9 11-9 2-11 11-10 (2-0) (45m)
Cameron Pilley (Aus) (6) bt Dylan Bennett (Ned) 11-4 11-4 11-10 (2-0) (33m)
Ong Beng Hee (Mas) (2) bt Mohd Nafiizwan (Mas) (WC) 11-6 11-7 11-7 (21m)

Women's Round of 16
Vanessa Atkinson (Ned) (1) bt Annelize Naude (Ned) 9-1 9-3 9-4 (20m) 
Tania Bailey (Eng) (8) bt Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) 9-6 9-4 3-9 9-4 (44m)
Natalie Grinham (Aus) (3) bt Melissa Martin (Aus) 9-5 9-3 9-0 (20m)
Alison Waters (Eng) bt Jenny Duncalf (Eng) (6) 9-1 9-1 4-9 5-9 9-4 (50m)
Vicky Botwright (Eng) (5) bt Engy Kheirallah (Egy) 9-4 9-2 9-2 (22m)
Rachael Grinham (Aus) (4) bt Tricia Chuah (Mas) (WC) 9-1 9-0 9-1 (19m)
Madeline Perry (Irl) (7) bt Rebecca Chiu (Hkg) 9-6 9-1 8-10 9-3 (34m) 
Nicol David (Mas) (2) bt Shelley Kitchen (Nzl) 9-4 9-2 9-6 (31m)

Tricia Chiu (above) ran into Rachael Grinham. Below: More first round action. (photos © 2006 Alex Wan)