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New Straits Times

[UPDATED] 'World consolation' for Pearly-Thinaah after Senayan setback

KUALA LUMPUR: Women's doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah missed the Indonesia Open title by a whisker, but they will have the consolation of achieving a career high ranking of world No. 3. Currently ranked world No. 4, Pearly-Thinaah fought China's world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning blow for blow for 87 minutes before being edged 23-25, 21-12, 21-19 at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta today. Appearing in their first Super 1000 tournament final, Pearly-Thinaah had raised hopes of a major upset when they led 9-4 in the third game, but only for Sheng Shu-Tan Ning to make a late comeback. Pearly-Thinaah, with the projected points of 86,066, will move above current South Korea's world No. 3 Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee (83,900) when the official world rankings are released by BWF tomorrow. Though Pearly played well, she was left dejected as she felt that her mistakes toward the end, cost them the match. "I was reminding myself to be calm but I was rushing at the end, and the last two points were my mistakes. "I am disappointed because of those mistakes," said Pearly. "All four of us were really tired as it was point for point towards the end. So, the physical aspect was not the major factor, but it was more mental as they were calmer than us. "As I said, I made two silly mistakes at the end and I need to learn from this. Hope I can be better in the future." Despite the narrow defeat, it has been a commendable run by Pearly-Thinaah in the past four weeks where they won the Thailand Open, reached the Malaysians Masters semi-finals, made the Singapore Open quarter-finals and now second in Indonesia. Communication and trust, said Thinaah, have been the main factors in their impressive run. Sheng Shu-Tan Ning have now extended their head-to-head record against Pearly-Thinaah to 8-3. But after yesterday's close shave, they know the Malaysian duo are closing in on them.