Pearly-Thinaah enter All England semis after revenge win

 The world No 2 pair defeated Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in straight games in the quarterfinals.

Pearly Tan-M Thinaah have won all three matches in straight games enroute to the semi-finals of the All England championships. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 National women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M Thinaah were in devastating form as they defeated an Indonesian pair to book a semi-final berth in the All England championships.

The tournament second seeds and world No 2 pair took 43 minutes to defeat Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari 21-9, 21-18 in their quarter-final encounter at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham last night.

After losing the first game easily, Febriana-Meilysa, who are world No 10, made a strong comeback in the second in an attempt to force a rubber but the Malaysians held on strongly to show they are serious contenders for the title this year.

It was sweet revenge for the Malaysians who had lost to the Indonesian duo in the second round of the Malaysia Open in January. This is Pearly-Thinaah’s fifth win over their rivals in six meetings.

The reigning Indonesia Masters champions will take on top Korean pair and world No 4 Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee in the semi-finals.

Pearly-Thinaah can expect a fairly tough match against the Koreans as both pairs have won three times each in their six encounters so far.

Their performance at the prestigious World Super 1000 championships has been encouraging so far, having won all three matches in straight games.

If Pearly-Thinaah win the All England crown, they will make history as the first Malaysian women’s pair to lift the title.

Men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, who are world No 2, are the other Malaysian representatives in the last four. They will meet China’s world No 11 Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi, whom they have beaten three times out of their four encounters so far. - FMT