National women’s doubles pair, M. Thinaah-Pearly Tan showed up against Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia 21-18, 21-17 to advance to the semifinals of the Perodua Malaysia Masters Malaysia.
A quick net play was key for the national duo as they romped to their first set victory in spite of the persistent pressure from the Indonesians.
In the second set, the competition intensified up until Thinaah-Pearly started to distance themselves from the 12th point onwards, before taking the game 21-17 to score a famous win over the newly crowned Petronas Malaysian Open winners last week.
The victory for Thinaah and Pearly also made up for the defeat they suffered at the Indonesia Masters last month.
âThe key to our win today was that we played calmly, stayed focussed, and to be aggressive at crucial points in the game. And even when we made mistakes, we were quick to correct them,â Thinaah said.
Thinaah-Pearly’s opponent in the semi-finals will be the world’s No. 1 pair from China, Chen Qing Chen-Jia Ye Fan.
In the meantime, the country’s top men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik also made their progression to the semi-finals after Chang Ko Chi-Poh Li Wei of Chinese Taipei with a straight set 23-21, 21-16 win.
Awaiting them in the semi-finals will be none other than the familiar Indonesian duo of Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
On the other hand, women âs double pair Anna Ching-Teoh Mei Xing should take more pride in their achievements despite their failure to make the cut to the semifinals of the tournament this year.
The worldâs 37th-ranked duo put up two brilliant performances in front of the home fans to make the quarterfinals of the Perodua Malaysia Masters before conceding to the worldâs No. 11 Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong of South Korea, 14-21, 18-21.
âPatatimo boysâ Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Muhammad Haikal Nazri tried hard but were just no match for Indonesian duo, Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto when they slumped to a 10-21, 16-21 loss in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, national mixed doubles Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai also crashed out in the quarterfinals after failing to match world No. 1 doubles Zheng Si Wei-Huang Ya Qiong from China, 10-21, 14-21.
