Pearly Tan and M.Thinaah are hoping to find their bets form at the next week’s Taiwan Open after a difficult run following Pearly’s injury setback.
The world No.5 pair were forced to miss two months of competition after Pearly suffered a recurring back injury. The injury ruled them out of the Uber Cup in Denmark back in April, Thailand open and Malaysia Masters in May.
Pearly admitted that the competition has become much tougher, with many pairs outside the world’s top 10 making progress while they were away from the court.
Although they continue to be among the seeded pairs in tournaments Pearly said them being absent has an impact as other players continue to improve. At last week’s Japan Open, Pearly and Thinaah suffered a first-round defeat to Taiwan’s Hsu Yin Hui and Lin Jhih Yun.
They showed signs of improvement at the China Open by reaching the quarter finals before Japan’s world No.3 pair Yuki Fukushima, and Mayu Matsumoto defeated then in Changzhou. The defeat also meant the Malaysians have now lost 4 consecutive matches to the Japanese duo. Pearly and Thinaah have not reached a BWF World Tour Semi-Finals since All England Open in March.
Focus now on Taiwan Open
The pair will now turn their attention to the Super 300 Taiwan Open which starts on Tuesday. Pearly says they plan to make the most days leading up to the tournament to prepare.
“We’ll make full use of the next few days in training before next week’s tournament and hopefully come back stronger,” says Pearly.
Thinaah also remained positive despite their quarter finals exit.
“I think there were positive signs in Changzhou. We’re getting closer to our rhythm. But as I said earlier, there are still many areas we need to improve, especially our game, communication and court coverage. We’ll take all the positives from this tournament and keep moving forward”, said Thinaah.
Pearly Tan and Thinaah will start their Taiwan Open campaign against Japan’s world No.12 pair Mao Hatasue and Kanano Muroya i the first round. Taiwan’s world no.9 Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En Tzu are the only top 10 women doubles pair competing in the game.
The Malaysian duo will be hoping the Taiwan Open will be a start of a strong comeback as they look to regain the form that made them one of the world’s top women’s doubles pair.
Sources: NST
