Defending champion Hsieh Su Wei advances into quarter-finals

Hsieh who ranks 23rd in the world, defeated Zhang Shuai from China, 6-2, 6-2 in the women's singles second round held at the Royal Selangor Golf Club, here, today.

She had earlier beaten Kurumi Nara from Japan, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round this morning.

The second seed will meet Bethanie Mattek-Sands from the United States in a quarter-final match.

Mattek-Sands who is competing in the championship on a wildcard, qualified for the quarter-finals after defeating China's Duan Ying-Ying, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.

Hsieh was the champion in the same tournament last year after beating Petra Martic from Croatia.

Thailand's young player Luksika Kumkhum will meanwhile meet Ayumi Morita from Japan in another quarter-final match after trouncing Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, 6-2, 6-4.

Luksika who aims to be in the top 100 ranking this year, said she was not predicting how far she could go in this Malaysian Open.

"Morita is the fourth seed, so the match will not be easy for me," she said.

Morita had defeated Nudnida Luangnam from Thailand, 6-3, 6-1. Fifth seed Misaki Doi from Japan lost to Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova, 4-6, 6-7 in the second round.

"I should be facing Wozniacki but she lost yesterday, so I had to change my tactics against Doi," said Pliskova who will meet Patricia Mayr-Achleiterner from Austria.

Mayr-Achleiterner defeated Wang Qiang from China, 6-3, 6-2.

All the three Malaysian players failed to go into the second round of the women's singles and doubles when they lost to their opponents.

Aslina Chua easily lost to China's Zhang Shuai, 0-6, 1-6 in the first round yesterday and the 17-year-old and her doubles partner Yang Zi from China lost to the pair of Rika Fujiwara from Japan and Zheng Saisai from Cina, 5-7, 6-3, 4-10 in the women's doubles first round today.