Pearly-Thinaah, Chia-Tai progress to Taipei Open 2nd round

 The women’s doubles duo beat a Japanese pair, while the new men’s doubles pair overcome a home duo in their opening matches.

Pearly Tan-M Thinaah were made to work hard before overcoming Japan’s Mao Hatasue-Kanano Muroya. (EPA Images pic)

PETALING JAYA:

National women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M Thinaah and newly paired men’s doubles duo Aaron Chia-Aaron Tai have advanced to the second round of the Taipei Open.

Top seeds and world No 5 pair Pearly-Thinaah beat Japan’s world No 110 duo Mao Hatasue-Kanano Muroya 21-15, 21-17 in a match that lasted 38 minutes at the Taipei Arena.

It was no stroll in the park for Pearly-Thinaah despite their superior ranking as the young Japanese pair gave them a hard time before bowing out.

The Malaysians are expected to advance to the quarter-finals as they will face unheralded home pair Chen Yan Fei-Sun Liang Ching in the second round tomorrow.

Pearly-Thinaah are hoping to secure a podium finish with the absence of top pairs in the World Tour Super 300 championships. They have had a lean run in terms of titles this year, having only won the Indonesia Masters in January.

Chia-Tai, playing together only for the second time, had to dig deep to overcome a Taiwanese pair making their debut in an international tournament.

After a disappointing first outing at the China Open last week, the Malaysians got off to a winning start at the Taipei Open by defeating Wu Guan Xun-Wu Hsuan Yi 18-21, 21-9, 21-14 in a match that lasted 44 minutes.

They have a good chance of making it to the quarter-finals as their second round opponents will either be Lai Po Yu-Tsai Fu Cheng or Chen Yu Che-Chen Ze Ru, both of whom are unheralded Taiwanese pairs.

The Malaysian duo were knocked out in the first round of the China Open last week, where they made their debut.

Separately, Eogene Ewe powered his way into the second round, making it three Malaysian men’s singles players through to the last 16 stage tomorrow.

The world No 80 defeated India’s Saneeth Dayanand, who is ranked six places above him, 21-4, 19-21, 21-12 in a match that lasted just 53 minutes.

Meanwhile, another of the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s experiments in men’s doubles ended in disappointment when Man Wei Chong-Soh Wooi Yik fell to Japan’s Haruki Kawabe-Kenta Matsukawa 9-21, 22-20, 14-21 in 48 minutes.

Earlier, newly paired Tee Kai Wun-Yap Roy King were eliminated in the opening round by a South Korean pair. - FMT