Pearly-Thinaah in Hong Kong Open final as Jin Wei falls in semis

In today’s semi-finals at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, Pearly-Thinaah were in their element from start to finish en route to ousting Thailand’s Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-13, 21-18, in 36 minutes. ― AFP file pic

Saturday, 16 Sep 2023 1:25 PM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 ― Top national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are on course to claim their first title this season after cruising into the final of the Hong Kong Open 2023 badminton championships.

In today’s semi-finals at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, Pearly-Thinaah were in their element from start to finish en route to ousting Thailand’s Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-13, 21-18, in 36 minutes.

This is the Malaysians’ second straight win over the Aimsaard sisters after the current world number 10 had overcome the same opponents 21-19, 21-17 in the first round of the Thailand Open 2020.

Pearly-Thinaah will be featuring in their second final this season, having gone down fighting 22-20, 8-21, 21-17 to South Korea’s Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee in the Malaysia Masters 2023 in May.

The sixth-seeded Pearly-Thinaah last won a title in October 2022 when they stunned two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in the French Open.

In tomorrow’s final, Pearly-Thinaah will face the winner of the other semi-final between seventh-seeded Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia and the unseeded Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen of Denmark.

Meanwhile, Goh Jin Wei’s journey came to an end after the former world junior women’s singles champion fell 14-21, 11-21 to China’s in-form Zhang Yi Man in just 29 minutes.

The defeat is her first to Yi Man in four outings. ― Bernama