PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles head coach Rosman Razak hopes Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah can carry their strong recent form into the final stretch of the season and end the year on a high.
Pearly-Thinaah will compete in the Japan Masters starting next Tuesday before heading to the Hong Kong Open a week later.
The two events will be their final tournaments of the year before they turn their attention to the season-ending World Tour Finals in Hangzhou this December.
With the pair enjoying a good run of form during the European swing last month, Rosman hopes they can maintain that level in the final stretch of the season.
“Overall, although they have had their ups and downs this year, they have still reached four finals, which is more or less similar to last year,” said Rosman.
“But I think the difference this year is that when their level dropped, it was quite significant.
“So I would prefer them to be more consistent. By that, I mean reaching at least the semi-finals because that is the level they are capable of.
“Even maintaining that level is not easy, so hopefully they can continue like this.
“If they can reach the final and become champions, of course we will be happy. But at the same time, we also have to be wary of injuries coming back because the intensity is very high.”
Despite being hampered by injuries this year, particularly Pearly, the pair have still enjoyed a strong season.
They won the Indonesian Masters and Denmark Open, finished runners-up at the Taipei Open and French Open, and also claimed bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games last month.
Their two titles this season also leave them just one short of matching last year’s haul, when they won the Thailand Open, Arctic Open and Japan Masters.
Their chances of another deep run in Kumamoto could be boosted by the absence of several top pairs, including China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning, who are still dealing with injury problems, as well as South Korea’s world No. 2 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee.
Rosman, however, does not want Pearly-Thinaah to be distracted by the problems facing their rivals and prefers them to focus on managing their own condition.
“I think the Chinese pair are also dealing with injuries, while the Korean pair are still in the recovery process.
“So actually, they are facing the same problems as us. The question is whether you can overcome them.
“Of course, you can say there is an opportunity there, but I don’t want to think too much about that.
“We have to focus on ourselves because we are also dealing with similar issues.
“How we manage our own problems is more important than thinking about our opponents,” he added.
