Basel: Daren Liew and Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif were among the first round winners on Tuesday at the USD120, 000 Swiss Open.
Daren blew past Matthias Almer of Austria 21-19, 21-13 in 36 minutes at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland; while the 25-year-old independent men’s singles player Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia needed just 31 minutes to beat Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine 21-9, 21-18.
Meanwhile, the reigning Malaysia national champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli who was rushed to hospital early March on suspicion of contracting dengue fever has recovered in time, breezed past Philip Discher of Germany in straight sets 21-15, 21-14 to kick off his 2015 Swiss Open bid in style.
Due to several last minute withdrawals, the freshly reunited Malaysian mixed doubles partners Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying will make their main draw appearances at the Swiss Open on Wednesday.
