Grand Slam Champions, Grand Slam finalists, ATP Masters 1000 stars, and winners of titles on the ATP World Tour will all be featuring in the doubles event at the US$1,022,255 Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur to be played at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil,September 20 to 28, 2014.
“The doubles game is always exciting and full of quick quick action and it has provided fans in Malaysia plenty of great excitement over the years – we have had many great doubles Finals in KL,” said Tournament Director Nick Freyer of IMG.
“The doubles draw has such a wide cross-section of players from Grand Slam champions like Leander Paes, making his KL debut, through to Grand Slam finalists from this year such as Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen, who are very familiar to fans in KL as our defending Champions. Butorac is a two time doubles winner at the Malaysian Open.”
More than likely the top seeds will be the defending champions Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen who started the season in sensational fashion by making the Australian Open final. They won Memphis, made the finals of ’Hertogenbosch, Munich and Auckland, the quarters of the US Open, Bucharest and Acapulco and the last 16 of Wimbledon.
Paes is one of the most iconic doubles players in the game. He is a winner of 53 career titles and during the week of this year’s tournament will team up with inaugural Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur doubles champion, Marcin Matkowski, a winner of 14 career titles himself. Just this year
Paes made the final of Washington, semis at Wimbledon, quarters at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Queen’s and Eastbourne, while Matkowski made the final in Bucharest, the semis in Rotterdam, reached five quarters and the last 16’s at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Adding further lustre to the doubles draw is the news that former Wimbledon and US Open Doubles Champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner have requested, and received, the second and final doubles wild card for the tournament. The first wild card pairing combines the “½ Kampung Kid” Nick Kyrgios with Malaysian standout player of 2014, Syed Mohd Agil Syed Naguib.
Teaming up in KL will be the tournament’s reigning singles champion Joao Sousa who pairs with Leonardo Mayer. The two made the semis at Winston-Salem. Sousa was also a semi-finalist in Oeiras and Sydney, reached four quarters and the 16s at the French Open, whereas Mayer was a quarter finalist at the US Open doubles, along with Nice, Casablanca, Sao Paulo and Rio.
The Brit-Aussie tandem of Jamie Murray, brother of Andy Murray, and John Peers won Munich and were finalists at Winston-Salem and Queen’s,semi-finalists five times, twice quarterfinalist and made the last 16 at Wimbledon and US Open.Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram were semifinalists at the recent US Open. Lipsky also won the doubles at Dusseldorf and Oeiras, was a finalist once, a semi-finalist once more and a quarterfinalist four times, while Ram made the final in Newport and semis in Washington. Dominic Inglot and Florin Mergea will offer stiff competition while Julian Knowle, a winner of 18 titles including the US Open, will combine with Andre Begemann once again – they won Halle together three months ago. With other partners they also won another title each and made the quarters or better at another 16 events.
The tournament is proud to welcome back its suite of official sponsors. In addition to the distinguished support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia as well as the Ministry of Youth & Sports, the event is proud to have prestigious commercial sponsors that include Rado, CNN International, the DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Wilson, the Albukhary Foundation, Astro, the ATP World Tour’s Premier Partner Corona, as well as welcome on board KPJ Healthcare Berhad, making its first foray into sponsorship of professional tennis. Other supplier level sponsors include House Restaurant, Cream & Fudge, Pizza Hut, 100Plus, KFC and KiekLover.KL.
Tickets prices remain very reasonable and range from RM 10 to RM 160. There will be free admission between Saturday, September 20 and Tuesday, September 23. Tickets can be purchased now on-line via the tournament website www.MalaysianOpenTennis.com http://www.malaysianopentennis.com/2014/tickets.php, at TicketCharge outlets or through the ticket hotline at TicketCharge Ph: 603-92228811
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