KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s hopes of being represented in the German Open 2023 finals were crushed after top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah crashed out in the semi-finals in Mulheim on Saturday.
The world number six pair succumbed to a 24-22, 21-13 defeat to top seed Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan in a 42-minute encounter.
In the past clashes between them, Pearly-Thinaah, who are the third seeds in the tournament, have only beaten Nami-Chiharu once, at the French Open 2022, while having lost to the world second-ranked women’s doubles pair seven times.
The Japanese pair will be facing Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee of South Korea who is also the eighth seed of the tournament in the finals, which is expected at midnight Malaysia time, to win this season’s title.
Now, the focus of Pearly-Thinaah, who is also the French Open 2022 champion, is on the All England 2023 which will begin on Tuesday (March 14) as they are scheduled to meet Japanese pair Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara in the first round.- BERNAMA