Fans in for a treat as Asia clash with Russia

KUALA LUMPUR: The stars are finally here and set to give their fans a treat in the Showdown of Champions KL 2009 tennis exhibition, which begins Saturday at the Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam.

Dubbed as Asia versus Russia, the tournament will be the first all-women tennis exhibition match to be played in the country.

In the doubles match today, world No. 35 Zheng Jie of China and world No. 57 Sania Mirza of India will combine to take on Russians Dementieva (world No. 5) and Maria Kirilenko (world No. 62).

Tomorrow, Zheng Jie will face Kirilenko while Dementieva will meet Sania in the singles matches.

Star attractions: From left, Sania Mirza (India), Maria Kirilenko (Russia), Zheng Jie (China) and Elena Dementieva (Russia) during a photocall in Kuala Lumpur Friday.

“It’s a great feeling to play in an exhibition match like this and I hope it can pave the way to a good start for next year,” said Dementieva.

Except for Sania, all three players are here for the first time and are already keen on visiting the many interesting places in Malaysia.

Sania, who is a frequent visitor to Malaysia, especially Penang, said she was treating the tournament as a warm-up for her quest to win more Grand Slam titles next year.

She won her first Grand Slam title this year with Mahesh Bhuphati in the mixed doubles event of Australian Open.

Her best effort in the singles event of a Grand Slam was a fourth round appearance in the US Open in 2005.

“I will try to win more titles next year, regardless of whether it’s mixed doubles or singles. But definitely I want to win the singles titles … so I aim to do better in that event next year,” said Sania.