PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah smashed into the women’s doubles semi-finals in the China Open after an impressive win over Japan’s world No. 9 Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto.
The world No. 3 pair controlled the match from start to finish to come away with a commanding 21-16, 21-12 victory in just 39 minutes at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou on Friday (July 25).
It was Pearly-Thinaah’s fourth win over Fukushima-Matsumoto in five meetings.
The in-form duo are now just one win away from reaching their second consecutive final after finishing runners-up in the Japan Open in Tokyo last week but face a tough task next against world No. 7 home pair Jia Yifan-Zhang Shuxian.
Pearly-Thinaah have only beaten Yifan-Shuxian once in their past four clashes.
