KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (Bernama) -- Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah stumbled in their bid to become the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to land the Japan Open title, falling to world number one Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning of China in the 2025 final in Tokyo today.
The Super 750 final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium began on level terms, with both pairs locked at 6-6.
However, the top-seeded and defending champions Sheng Shu-Tan Ning soon took control, ramping up the pressure to pull ahead 19-10 before closing out the first game 21-15.
Sheng Shu-Tan Ning picked up right where they left off in the second game, storming to a 4-0 lead and stretching it to 14-7 before winning at 21-14 to retain the title in 45 minutes.
The defeat dashed Pearly-Thinaah’s hopes of avenging last month’s Indonesia Open final loss to the same opponents, where they went down 25-23, 12-21, 19-21.
Today’s result also marked Pearly-Thinaah’s ninth defeat in 12 meetings against Sheng Shu-Tan Ning.
As the runners-up, Pearly-Thinaah pocketed USD33,250 (around RM141,000) while Sheng Shu-Tan Ning walked away with USD70,300 (about RM298,000) as champions.
The world number three pair also matched the achievement of Malaysian legends Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui, who were runners-up in the Japan Open 2008 edition.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games champions have had a good season so far, capturing the Thailand Open title in May and finishing second at the Indonesia Masters in January.
Meanwhile, Thinaah said they crumbled under the pressure from Sheng Shu-Tan Ning.
“It wasn’t the game we wanted to play. We’ll learn from this, refocus and prepare for next week,” she said in a statement issued by the Badminton Association of Malaysia.
Pearly-Thinaah will continue the season in the China Open 2025, where the third seeds are slated to meet fellow Malaysians Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting in the first round at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou.
The China Open will take place from July 22 to 27.
-- BERNAMA
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