4 days ago
Pearly-Thinaah hungry for more after ruthless quarter-final win
KUALA LUMPUR: A marathon battle was expected, but Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah had other ideas as they ruthlessly swept aside Japan's Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi to storm into the Indonesia Open semi-finals in Jakarta on Friday.
The world No. 4 blew away the Japanese world No. 5 duo 21-6, 21-18 in just 37 minutes in their quarter-final clash at the Istora Senayan, sealing their maiden semi-final appearance at a Super 1000 event.
Iwanaga-Nakanishi had arrived in Jakarta riding high after finishing runners-up at the Singapore Open last week, but were no match for the in-form Malaysians.
"We followed our game plan and are happy with our performance today. We hope to continue this momentum," said Pearly after the one-sided win.
"Our performance wasn't just based on confidence, but also our communication and ability to stay calm on court. These are things we've worked on over the last few tournaments."
The Malaysians had previously endured tough encounters against Iwanaga-Nakanishi.
At the French Open last October, Pearly-Thinaah came through a 102-minute semi-final marathon 21-19, 19-21, 26-24 before finishing runners-up to world No. 1s Lu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China.
They clashed again a week later at the Denmark Open, where the Japanese pair avenged their defeat with a 52-minute 22-20, 21-19 win on the way to the Super 750 title.
This time, however, Pearly-Thinaah left no room for drama.
The Malaysians will be full of confidence heading into Saturday's semi-final against China's world No. 6 Li Yi Jing-Luo Xu Min.
The Chinese pair beat Pearly-Thinaah in their only previous meeting at the China Open last year, but Thinaah is focused on the present.
"We're not thinking too much about the semi-final. For now, we just want to reflect on today's match, rest, eat well and be ready," she said.
Pearly-Thinaah are gunning for their first-ever Super 1000 final, and after Friday's clinical performance, they'll believe this could finally be their moment.
