KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 2 Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah survived an early scare to keep their Indonesia Masters title hopes alive after negotiating a tricky opening-round test on Tuesday.
Top seeds this week in the absence of world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning, Pearly-Thinaah were made to work hard before edging Americans Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai 21-15, 20-22, 21-19 at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta.
The Malaysians were on course for a straight-games victory before a costly lapse in concentration in the second game, where they allowed Corbett-Gai to reel off six consecutive points and overturn a four-match-point deficit from 20-16.
There was a sense of deja vu in the decider when Pearly-Thinaah again led 20-16, only for the Americans to close the gap to 20-19.
This time, however, the world No. 2 pair held their nerve to close out the contest and book their place in the second round.
Pearly-Thinaah will next face either Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr or Taiwan’s Lin Xiao Min-Wang Yu Qiao, a tie they would be expected to win.
With several top pairs absent, the Malaysians will be hoping to capitalise on their top billing and go one better than last year, when they narrowly missed out on the title.
They went down 21-12, 17-21, 21-18 to South Korea‘s Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong in the final.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
