Well played: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah beat China’s new pairing of Ding Keyun-Wang Yiduo 21-16, 21-14 yesterday.
PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are in good spirits after advancing to the second round of the China Masters.
After taking an early exit at the Japan Masters last week, the world No. 6 duo are glad to come out the gates stronger in Shenzhen as they got past China’s new pairing of Ding Keyun-Wang Yiduo 21-16, 21-14 yesterday.
As much as they are glad to be back competing, the fifth seed Malaysians noted areas in their game that need improvement.
“We are happy to be back on court but aren’t too satisfied with the first round match. At the start we made mistakes that shouldn’t have happened, but towards the end, we reminded each other to stay calm and enjoy every shot we play. That really helped us,” said Thinaah.
Pearly echoed her teammate’s comments, saying, “We did make a lot of mistakes, so all we can hope for is to be better for the next match.”
In Japan last week, Pearly-Thinaah fell to newly formed Japanese pair Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the first round but the Malaysians used their remaining time in Japan to train before arriving in Shenzhen.
“We lost on Tuesday last week, so after that we remained in Japan to train and prepare for this tournament in China.
“It is good to be back in China and we are looking forward to the crowds here because we have a lot of supporters here,” said Thinaah.
Pearly-Thinaah could face Taiwan’s Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun or Japan’s Arisa Igarashi-Ayako Sakuramoto in the second round today.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles duo Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien took down Algeria’s Koceila Mammeri-Taina Mammeri 21-15, 21-13 to set up a second round meeting with third seed Hong Kong pair Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet.
Also advancing was mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin, who made it through after winning 21-17, 21-12 against Taiwan’s Liu Kuang-heng-Jheng Yu-chieh and will meet second seed Chinese pair Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin next.
Zhenbang-Yaxin had earned their way into the second round after winning 21-18, 21-11 against world No. 18 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.
