Tough challenge: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah will play China’s Liu Shengshu (left) and Tan Ning in the first round of the Malaysian Open. — BWF News
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah need to be on their toes from the start in the Malaysian Open from Jan 9-14 after they were handed a daunting first-round match against China’s world No. 8 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Shengshu-Tan Ning only started playing in World Tour competitions this year but have progressed rapidly.
The pair reached seven finals, capturing four titles including the French Open and finishing runners-up thrice.
Pearly-Thinaah do hold the advantage over the Chinese pair based on the head-head-records, having beaten the latter both times in their past meetings in the Asian Mixed Team Championships (21-17, 12-21, 21-19) in February and Japan Open (21-11, 9-21, 21-19) in July.
The former, though, had to fight hard before coming away with the victories.
Pearly-Thinaah will need to raise their game to avoid another first-round exit in the competition after suffering a shock defeat to Bulgarian sisters Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva in their opening match last year.
Pearly-Thinaah can take heart from their battling performance in the Malaysian Masters at the same venue in May where they made amends by making it to the final before going down fighting to South Korea’s world No. 2 Lee So-hee-Baek Ha-na in three games.
A victory over Shengshu-Tan Ning will see the national pair play either another Chinese duo Li Yijing-Luo Xumin or Holland’s Debora Jille-Cheryl Seinen in the next round.
Pearly-Thinaah will be out to get off to a good start next year as they seek to maintain their ranking in the race to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Remaining in the top 16 until the qualifying period ends next April will guarantee the pair a spot in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the other home pairs in the fray in the Malaysian tourney are Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien and Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing.
