 KL
OPEN
1st ROUND PREVIEW
Alex Wan reports from KL
Ladies
Nicol David v Shelley Kitchen
Shelley Kitchen seems to always have the luck of having to play
Nicol in Malaysia.
 All
the times she's been here since 2003, she's had to play the local
favourite. Kitchen had a great 2005 which ended rather disappointingly,
but has just won the Buler Challenge in Hong Kong. Still, my money's on
the local darling to win hands down. David will also be very glad that
Vicky Botwright has withdrawn, so her path to the semi finals seem
highly likely.
Annelize Naude v Amelia Pittock
Pittock was today humbled by the World Junior Champion in 21
minutes, but was drawn as the lucky loser. Naude was a finalist last
year and looks set for a date against Nicol in a repeat of last year's
final in the quarters.
Natalie Grinham v Raneem El Weleily
The young Egyptian has a deadly touch. Her drops and chops are
simply amazing, but lacks the experience. Grinham on the other hand, has
all the experience and what we will see is the Australian retrieving
everything and El Weleily to lose points from mistakes and impatience.
Linda Elriani v Jenny Duncalf
The two will square up again after their semi final clash at the
British Nationals. The veteran triumphed in just under an hour then. It
should be very close again.
Madeline Perry v Omneya Abdel Kawy
Since the draw was made Madeline Perry has overtaken Kawy in
the WISPA rankings. She can be very deadly on her day and made it to the
quarters in the World Open last year. It will be interesting to see if
the Egyptian's shot making will overcome Perry's hardworking style of
play.
 Rachael
Grinham v Tegwen Malik
One of KL's favourite girls, Tegwen Malik survived a big scare in
the first round of qualifying, but was never threatened today against
the Malaysian number 3. I have seen her give many of the big girls a
very tough fight, but she wasn't so impressive this time round. Rachael
to take this one comfortably.
Natalie Grainger v
Engy Kheirallah
Having watched most of the top women play in various tournaments,
this will actually be my first time witnessing Natalie Grainger.
Kheirallah, the million dollar face is playing well, beating
countrywoman Omneya Abdel Kawy a week back. She looks to be tough, but
how well Grainger can take her, I am also keen to know.
Vanessa Atkinson v Sharon Wee
Atkinson is currently very confident, having beaten Nicol David a
week back. When she is in her stride, she is pretty unstoppable. I do
not believe Wee will be able to trouble the 2004 world champion too
much. Still, I hope she can prove me wrong! |
Men
Top seeds Azlan Iskandar and Ong Beng Hee will find making
an all-Malaysian final not as easy as they hoped. the face the lethal
Ashour brothers in the quarters, should they overcome their first
round matches.
Bengy plays Mark Heather, a player who troubled Azlan in the Malaysian
Open while Azlan plays qualifier Lee Drew.
Both the Ashour brothers should have no problems against their respective
opponents.
The most interesting match for me would be Adrian Grant v Atlas Khan,
the Asian Junior Champion.
He was impressive in his qualifying matches and even beat Bengy a year
back. He hits the ball with such strength while his drops are so delicate.
He's fast, he's young and he's really got practically nothing to lose.
The
other matches should all go as seeded, I do not see any upsets coming up,
although the Razik v Ross match has the potential ...
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