KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 – Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah believed in themselves to snatch a thrilling first-round win in the Toyota Thailand Open at the Impact Arena with an upset come-from-behind 16-21, 21-15, 27-25 win over fancied sixth seeds Chang Ye-na-Kim Hye-rin of South Korea.
It is a match they will remember and puts them in line for a quarter-final berth when they take on the French pair of Vimala Heriau-Margot Lambert.
The win over the Koreans is certainly a big boost to their confidence and this they showed in the 77-minutes match.
”We believed in ourselves but we can do better. Our on-court communication helped us a lot,” said Pearly after the match.
Another pair that advanced on Wednesday was the Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yean combination who walked away with a straight game 21-17, 21-16 win over Canada’s Rachel Honderich-Kristen Tsai in 45 minutes.
For a place in the quarter-finals, they will face Australians Setyana Mapasa-Gronya Somerville.
In a 73-minute thriller in the mixed doubles, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing went down fighting against Marcus Ellis-Lauren Smith. The English won 14-21, 21-15, 21-19.
However, Hoo Pang Ron-Cheah Yee See added some cheer to the Malaysian camp when they ousted India’s Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy – coming through 55-minutes for a 21-14, 18-21, 21-12 win. They next face Thom Gizquel-Delphine of France.
Expect a thriller in the men’s singles second-round match between Malaysian professional Daren Liew and India’s HS Prannoy. Daren received a walkover from another Indian B. Sai Praneeth who was tested positive for Covid-19.
Prannoy showed great character and determination to pack off Indonesia’s Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie after a marathon of 75-minutes, winning 18-21, 21-16, 23-21 in the biggest upset in the tournament.
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