A job well done: Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah beat world No. 2 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee 22-20, 17-21, 21-15. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are pumped up to end their two-year title drought in the Hong Kong Open despite a huge challenge ahead.
They face a significant hurdle in the form of China’s Paris Olympics silver medallists Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in the final at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon today.
Despite the tough battle that awaits them, the world No. 8 duo are keen to crown their superb run with the title.
Yesterday, Pearly-Thinaah showed great fighting spirit and determination to beat world No. 2 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in a thrilling match lasting 74 minutes.
The former came back from 14-19 and 18-20 down to snatch the opening game from Ha-na-So-hee before the latter came out firing to take the second game.
In the decider, it was Pearly-Thinaah, who stepped up their game to come away with the win.
It was the pair’s second consecutive win over Ha-na-So-hee after they also toppled them in the same stage in the Korean Open a fortnight ago.
The Malaysians also reached the final in Hong Kong last year but lost to Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti.
Pearly-Thinaah are tired of playing the bridesmaid role and want to taste success again after last winning a title at the 2022 French Open in Paris.
“We are quite happy that we have managed to reach the final but there’s still one more match to go,” said Thinaah in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We want to keep ourselves grounded and focused on the match.
“The main thing that helped us throughout is believing in each other and communicating when things don’t go well. I think that’s really important.
“The Koreans were giving us a lot of pressure especially in the second game and we are happy that we managed to pull through.”
Pearly said: “We just hope to be consistent in every match.”
Since their last Open victory, Pearly-Thinaah have found it hard to get over the finish line and came second best in the Malaysian Masters last year to Ha-na-So-hee to add to their two runners-up finishes in Hong Kong and Korea.
To finally get their hands on the title, Pearly-Thinaah need to overturn their head-to-head record against Shengshu-Tan Ning where they trail 2-4.
The former lost in their last four meetings against the world No. 3 including in the last eight of the Japan Open where the Chinese pair went on to win the title.
Pearly-Thinaah, though, can take heart after taking a game from Shengshu-Tan Ning before losing 21-17, 14-21, 10-21 as their three encounters before that ended in straight games defeat.
The Chinese duo had to dig deep to beat Korea’s Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong 21-12, 18-21, 21-16 to book their spot in the final.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, Korean Open champions and world No. 9 Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei could not make it into back-to-back finals when they went down 14-21, 21-23 to China’s world No. 2 Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping.
SEMI-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Anthony Ginting (Ina) 21-9, 21-19.
Men’s doubles: Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Chiu Hsiang-chieh-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe) 21-23, 21-15, 21-16; Sabar Karyaman-Moh Reza (Ina) bt Leo Rolly-Bagas Maulana (Ina) 21-13, 21-17.
Women’s singles: Han Yue (Chn) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 22-20, 21-10; Putri Kusuma (Ina) bt Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) 22-20, 21-23, 21-18.
Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 22-20, 17-21, 21-15; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 21-12, 18-21, 21-16.
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) 21-12, 21-6; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) 21-14, 23-21.
