[Event]
Earlier last week I attended the meet and greet with Caroline Wozniacki organised by Carlsberg Malaysia https://timchew.net/2013/02/28/carlsbergs-meet-greet-with-caroline-wozniacki/ and yesterday (3 March 2013) I was lucky enough to be able to attend the finals of the WTA BMW Malaysian Open 2013 at the Royal Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur courtesy of Kronenbourg 1664 (one of the brands under Carlsberg Malaysia’s portfolio) who was the official beer sponsor for the event.

MHB’s Kelly and Louise

Loads of ice-cold Kronenbourg 1664 for us in the VIP lounge!

Ball Watch was one of the sponsors for the event and both the winner and runner-up got a Ball Watch timepiece!

We got VIP seats right next to the guests of honour (some ministers/ datuks) courtesy of Keonenbourg 1664!

And we had an awesome view of the singles finals!

It was a tough fight but Karolina Pliskova eventually triumphed!
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In a match of sheer grit and skill Karolina Pliskova managed to overcome her 27-year-old and more experienced opponent Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The unseeded Czech appeared tense in the opening set as wild card entry Bethanie took it rather comfortably (6-1) but she managed to gather her wits and stormed back to win the second as she fought her way back into the match, much to the delight of the appreciative crowd who was hoping to see a 3 set finals match.
The crowd was pretty sporting and kept themselves entertained by doing Mexician waves during the breaks between the games/ sets! I found it rather amusing.
As Bethanie seemed to lose her concentration (possibly due to fatigue and the hot weather) and made a couple of unforced errors Pliskova soldiered on and went on to win the tournament as she found her rhythm and dictated play.
Delighted with her victory, Pliskova told the media afterwards that after her serve kicked in during the second set she became more settled and it freed her up to move about more confidently.
“In the first set Bethanie played really well, but after I found my first serve I too grew in confidence and that set me up for the win,” said the player who now has a maiden WTA singles title to her credit and added that she enjoyed singles more than doubles.
In defeat Mattek-Sands said Pliskova played “good tennis today.”
“I started reasonably well but in the second set she served really good and as much as I tried, I couldn’t break her. “All the same, I am happy with the overall performance of my game over the week and look forward to the next tournament, where I will try to go one step better,” said Mattek-Sands.
To find out more on the tournament head over to http://www.bmwmalaysianopen.com/
More photos at https://www.facebook.com/myhotbloggers
More info on Carlsberg Malaysia at http://www.carlsberg.com.my/ and https://www.facebook.com/CarlsbergMalaysia
Subscribe to my public updates at https://www.facebook.com/timchewkc
Photo credits: Carlsberg Malaysia and author’s own
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