Romanian World No 94 Alexandra Dulgheru continued her fine form in The BMW Malaysian Open 2015 when she overcame crowd favourite Julia Goerges of Germany in a hotly contested quarterfinal match 7-6, 7-5.
Goerges came into the match as the favourite, and she too enjoyed a fine run of form leading up to the quarterfinals. But Dulgheru was just as determined and she was not about to let the chance of advancing to the semi-finals slip through her fingers.
“Honestly I didn’t believe today was going to be a straight sets match. It was very hot today, and both Goerges and I got tired at some point in the match. When I came back on court after the break, I felt a bit tired and it took me sometime to gather my energy and get back in the match. Goerges had a better start and it looked like she would get the better of me, but somehow I managed to pull through by keeping calm and focusing on playing my game. I fought hard for each and every point and after slightly more than two hours on court I got the better of her and won,” said a relieved Dulgheru.
She continued by saying, “Playing in the hot afternoon today was really challenging. I would like to play later in the day when it is cooler, but as professionals we come on court and play our best games to win. Every tournament is different, there are different court surfaces, different weather conditions, and different opponents off course, but my aim is to stay as healthy as possible and to continue to build my game while having fun on court in the pursuit of achieving the best possible results. I look forward to the coming semi-final.”
In the semi-finals, Dulgheru will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between fourth seed JarmilaGajdosova of Australia or sixth seed Kurumi Nara of Japan.
In doubles competition, Chang Kai-Chen of Chinese Taipei and her partner ZhengSaisai of China took on Liang Chen and Wang Yafan of China for an all-Asian doubles semi-final. Both Liang and Wang were in top form and even though they struggled in the first set, they managed to get their act together to defeat Chang and Zheng in straight sets 7-6, 6-1.
Wang commented after the match, “The first set was not good for both Liang and I as Zheng and Chang matched us in almost every aspect, but we were lucky to take the first set. In the second set we managed to play our game and take control to win the match and book our place in the final.”
Liang added, “We will be undergoing special training to prepare for the final, and we will be focusing on building up our strengths and exploiting our opponents weaknesses for our shot at the doubles title.”
In the doubles final, Liang and Wang will face the winner of the semi-final match between Croatian DarijaJurak and Czech KlaraKoukalova against Ukrainians YuliyaBeygelzimer and Olga Savchuk.
The tennis action continues to heat up on the hard courts of The Royal Selangor Golf Club as both singles and doubles players battle it out in the final stages of the tournament in their quest for the coveted titles. Stay tuned for all the tennis action happening right here at the BMW Malaysian Open 2015.
Admission is free for the BMW Malaysian Open from the start of the qualifying rounds on February 28th, 2015 until March 4, 2015. Tickets are priced between RM33-RM73 from March 6th to 8th, 2015 respectively.
For more ticketing information, visit www.ticketcharge.com.my or call +603-92228811.
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