Malaysia women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah— IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
ODENSE: One will listen to the Moonlit Floor song while the other will tune in to Espresso.
And that's how M. Thinaah and Pearly Tan hope to stay relaxed and ready before their expected marathon match against Japan's Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the women's doubles quarter-finals of the Denmark Open at the Jsyke Bank Arena in Odense on Friday (Oct 17).
On Thursday, Thinaah and Pearly battled for one hour and 10 minutes to beat South Koreans Lee Yu-lim-Shin Seung-chan 20-22, 18-21, 21-16 while fourth seeds Iwanaga-Nakanishi had an easier path as they downed Sung Shuo-yun-Yu Chien-hui of Taiwan 21-8, 21-12.
Fifth seeds Thinaah and Pearly are a spent force after another tiring game but promises to be ready.
"We want to rest and recover for the next match. The Japanese pair dragged us into a decider just last week over an hour (at the semi-finals of the Arctic Open) and we are prepared to be tired again," said a jovial Pearly.
"I will listen to Sabrina Carpenter's Espresso song, it will relax my mind."
Thinaah said: "I'm now listening to Lisa's new Moonlit Floor song. It has a slower rhythm. It's soothing and takes away the tiredness.
Both surely need to stay calm and refreshed after going through a rollercoaster ride against the Koreans.
"We were rushing to kill the shots and made mistakes in the first game. We had better control in the second," said Thinaah.
Chipped in Pearly: "We were doing fine in the third game and led 17-11 but the same thing happened and I was in a hurry to finish off the game. Thinaah told me to stay calm, and fortunately, we did it."
