KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia’s leading women’s badminton duo, Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah, showcased an outstanding performance to overcome Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the All England Open Badminton Championships, securing their place in the tournament’s semifinals.
Pearly and Thinaah controlled the match from start to finish, decisively defeating Febriana and Meilysa in straight sets with scores of 21-9 and 21-18 in under 45 minutes.
This semifinal appearance marks the highest achievement for a Malaysian women’s doubles team at the All England, and Pearly and Thinaah will now strive to surpass this milestone when they compete against South Korea’s Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee on Saturday.
The victory was particularly satisfying for the Malaysians, who had previously lost to Febriana and Meilysa in the second round of the Malaysia Open in January.
Additionally, this win has increased Pearly and Thinaah’s head-to-head record against the Indonesians to 5-1.
Standing in their way of a first final appearance are world No. 4 Ha Na and So Hee, with the rivalry between the two teams currently tied at 3-3.
The South Korean pair appeared formidable earlier, having easily defeated Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto with scores of 21-18 and 21-7 in the other quarter-final.
