Good record: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have beaten Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya three times in their past four meetings.
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have a tricky test against Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya in the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open today.
Febriana-Amalia might not be as well known as their teammates Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia but have been progressing well this year and are in good form.
The Indonesians reached four finals this year, capturing the recent Taiwan Open and Australian Open in June and finished runners-up in the Thailand Open and Spain Masters.
Febriana-Amalia also captured gold in the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.
The pair jumped from No. 19 to No. 12 in the latest world rankings and are now just two rungs below Apriyani-Fadia.
Based on the head-to-head records, Pearly-Thinaah, who are currently ranked No. 8 in the world, do hold the advantage over the Indonesians as they have beaten them three times in their past four meetings.
Febriana-Amalia’s sole win over the Malaysians came in the 2021 Indonesian Open.
Pearly-Thinaah are also playing some of their best badminton lately and finished runners-up in the Korean Open a fortnight ago.
Yesterday, the pair swept aside homesters Lui Lok Lok-Tsang Hiu Yan 21-16, 21-14 at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon to book their spot in the last eight.
Pearly-Thinaah came close to winning the title last year but were beaten in the final by Apriyani-Fadia.
Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles, it was the end of the road for independent pairs Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Tan Wee Kiong-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Lim Tze Jian-Wong Tien Ci.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin, who were competing in their first tournament since leaving the national team, went down fighting 21-16, 19-21, 13-21 to Indonesia’s Shohibul Fikri-Daniel Marthin.
It was the pairs’ first meeting as the Indonesians were only combined last month following a partnership reshuffle.
Wee Kiong-Azriyn also suffered a narrow 21-18, 13-21, 17-21 defeat at the hands of Taiwan’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Wang Chi-lin and his new partner Chiu Hsiang-chieh while Tze Jian-Tien Ci fell 9-21, 21-23 to South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae.
Meanwhile, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun kept Malaysia’s challenge alive in the men’s doubles after beating China’s Xie Haonan-Zeng Weihan 21-11, 21-18 to book their spot in the quarter-final.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun will next face either Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza or another Chinese pair, Chen Boyang-Guo Ruohan.
