PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have a good opportunity to make it into their second consecutive final in the Arctic Open, which starts on Monday (Oct 6) in Vantaa, Finland.
Pearly-Thinaah finished runners-up to China's world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning in last year's edition.
Based on the draw this time, the world No. 2 pair could set up another title clash against Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Several top 10 pairs in the world, including South Korea's world No. 4 Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong and world No. 7 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, have elected to skip the tournament, enhancing Pearly-Thinaah's chances of reaching the final again.
China's Zhang Shuxian, who is ranked No. 3 in the world with Jia Yifan, will also be playing in the tourney with another partner, Bao Lijing.
Pearly-Thinaah could face the new combination in the last four.
Before that, the Malaysians should have no problems beating Austria's Serena Au-Anna Hagspiel in the opening round.
A win will likely see Pearly-Thinaah play Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji-Meilysa Trias in the second round.
The former will be refreshed and raring to go again after a short break from tournaments.
Pearly-Thinaah last competed in the China Masters last month (September), where they made it into the quarter-finals before going down fighting to Han-na-So-hee.
The pair would be Malaysia's sole representatives in the women's doubles in the Arctic tourney.
The in-form Pearly-Thinaah will be eyeing their sixth final of the year after capturing the Thailand Open and finishing runners-up in the World Championships, Indonesian Open, Japan Open and Indonesian Masters.
The duo can take another big step towards qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Finals from Dec 17-21 in Hangzhou with another good showing in Finland.
Pearly-Thinaah are currently ranked third in the Race to Finals rankings and must maintain their position in the top eight to secure a spot in the prestigious event.
The pair will also compete in the Denmark Open (Oct 14-19) and French Open (Oct 21-26) after the Arctic tourney.
Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles, independent pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie would be the only Malaysians in action in the Arctic Open.
World No. 8 Soon Huat-Shevon, who are the fifth seeds in the competition, would open their campaign against Scotland's world No. 23 Alexander Dunn-Julie Macpherson.
