Badminton

Pearly-Thinaah march into German Open semi-finals

NATIONAL women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah reached their third straight World Tour semi-finals following a sensational win over Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan at the German Open yesterday.

World No 6 Pearly-Thinaah prevailed 21-17, 18-21, 21-11 against the two-time world champions in a repeat of last year's French Open final in October.

Then, Pearly-Thinaah beat Matsumoto-Nagahara to become the first Malaysian women's doubles winners of the French Open since its inception in 1908.

Pearly-Thinaah are now just two wins away from pulling off a similar feat in Mulheim, as no Malaysian women's pair have succeeded in conquering the German Open since the tournament was founded in 1955.

But Pearly-Thinaah must first overcome their next hurdle, arguably the toughest yet, against Japanese nemeses Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida whom they had only defeated once in eight meetings.

It was in Paris last year that Pearly-Thinaah finally broke the duck against the Japanese after a six-match winless streak, but world No 2 Matsuyama-Shida swiftly restored order with a semi-final victory at the India Open in January.

If anything, Europe appears to be a favourite hunting ground for Pearly-Thinaah. Two years ago, they won the Swiss Open for their career breakthrough title.

In the mixed doubles, Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei's gallant run came to an end after they lost 22-20, 21-14 to Kim Won Ho-Jeong Na Eun of South Korea.

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