PUTRAJAYA: National women’s doubles top pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah made a strong start to their World Tour Finals campaign after defeating China’s Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian in their opening Group A match on Wednesday (Dec 17).
Fresh from winning gold at the Thailand SEA Games three days ago, Pearly-Thinaah showed no signs of fatigue as they dominated the match to secure a 21-17, 21-11 victory over Yifan-Shuxian.
The win was made even sweeter as the Malaysians finally ended their losing run against the Chinese pair, having fallen to them in their previous five meetings.
In Group B of the mixed doubles event, the all-Malaysian clash between Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie saw the world champions cruise to a comfortable 21-13, 21-13 win.
