KUALA LUMPUR: Women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah’s remarkable consistency in reaching their 11th semi-final in 17 World Tour events, at the Kumamoto Masters, on Friday has even surpassed the record of men’s counterparts Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
World No. 2 Pearly-Thinaah secured a clinical 21-13, 21-17 win over Taiwan’s world No. 16 Hsu Yin Hui-Lin Jhih Yun at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium in a 30-minute quarter-final match.
In contrast, world No. 2 Aaron-Wooi Yik had only reached the semi-final stage in eight tournaments.
Both pairs have won two titles each on the World Tour, but Pearly-Thinaah are on course for a third title this weekend, based on their fiery form.
Pearly-Thinaah, who won the Thailand and Arctic Opens earlier this year, look to add the Kumamoto Masters title to their collection in the absence of China‘s world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning.
Pearly-Thinaah are expected to beat Japan’s world No. 6 Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the semi-finals as they have a 4-1 head-to-head record.
If Pearly-Thinaah advance, it will be their seventh final in an extraordinary season, including finishing runners-up at the Paris World Championships in August.
The other women’s doubles semi-final clash will be between South Korea‘s world No. 3 Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong and Japan’s world No. 7 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
