Stern China test awaits Pearly-Thinaah in semi-finals
PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's fine form this year will be put to the test when they face home pair Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian in the China Open semi-finals today.
Pearly-Thinaah booked their spot in the last four with a commanding 21-16, 21-12 win in over Japan's world No. 9 Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in just 39 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Changzhou yesterday.
The world No. 3 are now just one victory away from reaching back-to-back finals after finishing runners-up in the Japan Open in Tokyo last week.
World No. 7 Yifan-Shuxian though have proved to be a tough pair to get past for Pearly-Thinaah before this.
The Malaysians have only beaten the Chinese duo once in their past four meetings but are hoping to continue their strong form by overcoming the latter.
"Everything worked well for both of us today (yesterday)," said Thinaah in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
"There were times when we were under pressure but the support that Pearly and the coaches gave really helped and we hope to continue this momentum tomorrow (today).
Pearly said: "We knew their attack is quite strong, so we were well prepared with our defence.
"I think we did well on this, so I'm very happy with today's (yesterday) match.
"There's still room for improvement and we are working on getting better. We are trying to improve our consistency."
Yifan-Shuxian were also impressive in the last eight, easily overcoming another Malaysian duo, world No. 22 Teoh Mei Xing-Go Pei Kee 21-7, 21-15 in only 34 minutes.
Mei Xing said that Yifan-Shuxian have improved after playing together for nearly a year.
"Our opponents played very well today (yesterday). We could not cope with their speed," Mei Xing told the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
"Their combination is very smooth compared to when they started playing together. Now, their shots and rotation are difficult to play against.
"We can learn a lot from their speed, power and tactics."
Now, it's Pearly-Thinaah's turn to try to stop Yifan-Shuxian, who will also have the home support behind them.
Women's doubles coach Rosman Razak has an important task - come up with a winning strategy for his charges.
Pearly-Thinaah will be attempting to reach their fifth final of the year after capturing the Thailand Open and finishing second in the Indonesian Open and Masters to go with their runners-up finish in Japan.
The pair are also looking to maintain their form ahead of the World Championships from Aug 25-31 in Paris.
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