KUALA LUMPUR: The nation’s top women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan-M Thinaah missed out on a glorious chance to bag their first title on home turf after going down to South Korea’s Baek Ha-na – Lee So-hee in the Malaysia Masters 2023 final here today.
Pearly-Thinaah got off to a shaky start and were 4-6 behind before they raised their game to lead 19-16 when the umpire stopped the game for four minutes to allow Pearly to seek medical treatment for an injury on her left calf.
The Koreans then took advantage of the situation to chase the score and close out the opening game 22-20 win.
Deafening cheers from the home fans inside the Axiata Arena pumped up Pearly-Thinaah as they were in cruise control from start to finish in the second set to force the game into the decider after roaring past Ha-na – So-hee 21-8.
After trailing 10-16 in the final set, the sixth seeds stretched themselves to the limit while Ha-na – So-hee stood firm to fend off Pearly-Thinaah’s last-ditch effort to stage a comeback as lady luck was on the unseeded South Koreans’ side as they secured the title after a 21-17 victory in a nail-biting contest that lasted 101 minutes.
Pearly said she was disappointed for not winning the first set and attributed a lack of fitness as the main factor that led them to settle for the runner-up spot in their first Super 500 final.
She also admitted that they started to lose focus after the South Koreans took the lead during the third set interval, and said she almost tossed her cookies before the end of the final set due to fatigue.
“Of course, this year has seen many ups and downs, it was a good start for us but we are not satisfied and hope we can do better. We just need to go back, analyse what happened and come back stronger,” Pearly told reporters.
Since early this year, Pearly-Thinaah’s best achievement leading up to the Malaysia Masters 2023 was reaching the semifinals three times, starting with the India Open 2023 and Indonesia Masters 2023 last January followed by the German Open 2023 in March.
Today’s result means that Pearly-Thinaah have failed to end an 11-year title drought for Malaysia in the event after Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty were the last Malaysian women’s pair to win the Malaysia Masters when they defeated Singapore’s Shinta Mulia Sari-Yao Lei, 21-18, 21-18 in the 2012 final.
Despite the loss, the current world No 11 pair still managed to win US$15,960 while Ha-na – So-hee received US$33,180 as prize money, and a trophy each. - FMT
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