KUALA LUMPUR: Women's doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah finally overcame Chiharu Shida-Nami Matsuyama of Japan to advance to the semi-finals of the French Open today.
The world No 11 Malaysians recovered from a game down to beat the world No 3 15-21, 21-14, 21-14 and end their six-match jinx dating back the Asia Team Championships in February.
Buoyed by the landmark win, Pearly-Thinaah will now attempt for a fourth time this year to reach their second World Tour final when they go up against South Korea's scratch pairing of Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee tomorrow.
The only time Pearly-Thinaah made it to the title clash on the world circuit was when they claimed the Swiss Open for their breakthrough victory in March last year.
This year itself, they failed to crack the last-four barrier on three occasions at the Thailand Open, Indonesia Masters and Malaysia Masters.
Pearly-Thinaah know very well that they have an uphill task against the experienced Ha Na-So Hee even though the Koreans had only started their partnership at the Denmark Open last week.
Ha Na-So Hee made an instant impact by finishing runners-up to reigning world champions Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan of Chin.
The Koreans, however, earned their instant revenge by knocking out top seeds Qing Chen-Yi Fan 21-16, 23-21 today.
Coach Hoon Thien How believes a long-awaited win over their Japanese rivals will do Pearly-Thinaah's confidence a whole world of good.
"Today, they performed really well. They were mentally strong during the match," said Thien How.
"It's never easy to play a pair you have never beaten in previous meetings. It takes more than playing the right strategy, you also have to believe in yourself.
"That's what they did today. With this win, I'm sure it has boosted their confidence.
"I certainly hope they can go all the way to win the title. There's no clear favourite here, Pearly-Thinaah stand an equal chance to win too.
"But first, let's focus on the semis first."
Meanwhile, Malaysia's interest in the men's doubles ended after Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi ran out of steam.
The Malaysians went down 21-18, 21-18 to South Korea's Kim Won Ho-Choi Sol Gyu, dashing their hopes of reaching their second semi-finals in as many weeks.