Colourful character: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei charming the press with her quick wit and bubbly personality. — M. AZHAR ARIF /The Star.

KUALA LUMPUR: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei is simply a ball of fun, with her quick wit and bubbly personality.

The bubbly 27-year-old is back here – at the Royal Selangor Golf and Country Club – to defend her BMW Malaysian Open tennis title.

At 1.69m (5’ 7”) and a svelte 57kg (126lbs), many would balk at the notion that the girl from Kaoshiung, Taiwan, is a real foodie!

“I eat Indian food, I eat bak kut teh, I eat pasta, pizza, steak. I eat everything!,” said Su-wei, who arrived here on Friday.

“I quite enjoy coming to Malaysia and sampling all the different foods. In fact, I’m planning to go have some bak kut teh tomorrow (today) with my coach Paul (McNamee) and some of the other players. It’s his first time here in Malaysia, so I must get him to try it!,” she added excitedly.

And if you wonder how she keeps fit.

“Just training on court,” she says nonchalantly.

“I don’t really go to the gym. I don’t ... I’m not really interested in becoming a ‘king kong barbie’!” said Su-wei to laughter from the journalists gathered around.

“I can still play. So that’s good. If I lose all my matches, then I will think otherwise. But I can still win my matches, enjoy my game and be happy on court, that’s good.”

S. Theiviya: Blamed the heat and her lack of fitness for costing her a place in the main draw.

Ranked world No. 25, the highest ever for a Taiwanese player, Su-wei is excited at the prospect of playing in the tournament again. And, this time around, she just wants to enjoy it. Su-wei faces Japan’s Kurumi Nara in the first round.

“Well, it’s always tough. The tournament always has good players here. Even the first match is tough. I don’t really think about winning or losing. I try to do my best. Kurumi’s a great player, so ... I’ll be ready,” said Su-wei.

“All the opponents in the draw this year are difficult to play against. But I’m always happy with my draw. If I don’t play (Caroline) Wozniacki in the first round ... that’s fine.

“The weather here is just like back home, you know. I feel comfortable and happy to be back and no pressure – I just want to enjoy it.”

Meanwhile, local ace S. Theiviya has blamed the heat and her lack of fitness for costing her a place in the main draw.

Wildcard Theiviya’s dream of playing in the main draw wilted under the intense heat at Centre Court as she lost her qualifying singles first round match 1-6, 1-6 to third seed Chanel Simmonds of South Africa in 63 minutes.

“I had a good start ... then I got a bit nervous. I played well but I was tired and the weather was hot. I lacked fitness. I couldn’t get to the ball fast enough,” said the 19-year-old Theiviya.

In other qualifying matches, top seed Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand eased into the second round after defeating China’s Zi Yang 6-3, 6-3.

The Thai will meet Arina Rodionova in today’s second round match after the 10th-seeded Russian disposed of Taiwan’s wildcard entrant Chan Hao-Ching 6-2, 6-0.

Second seed Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan also moved into the second round after beating Thailand’s Varatchaya Wongteanchai 6-3, 6-3. She faces Ana Savic of Croatia today after the 12th seed beat Turkey’s Pemra Ozgen 6-2, 6-3.

Meanwhile, play was stopped due to rain from 4pm to 6pm and later abandoned at 7.30pm due to technical problems.

There are five remaining matches to be played today.

Results

Qualifying singles

First Round

Luksika Kumkhum (Tha) bt Yang Zi (Chn) 6-3, 6-3; Arina Rodionova (Rus) bt Chan Hao-Ching (Tpe) 6-2, 6-0; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Varatchaya Wongteanchai (Tha) 6-3, 6-3; Ana Savic (Cro) bt Pemra Ozgen (Tur) 6-2, 6- 3; Chanel Simmonds (Rsa) bt S. Theiviya (Mas) 6-1, 6-1; Nadiya Kichenok (Ukr) bt Rika Fujiwara (Jpn) 6-0, 6-0; Zarina Diyas (Kaz) bt Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) 6-3, 6-2.

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