Pearly-Thinaah topple Korean world No. 2 again to reach HK Open final

PETALING JAYA: Women’s doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah pulled off another stunning win over South Korea’s world No. 2, Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, to make it into back-to-back finals in the Hong Kong Open.

Pearly-Thinaah had beaten Ha-na-So-hee in their last meeting in the Korean Open semi-final a fortnight ago and proved that the win was no fluke when they fought brilliantly to come out on top again 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in a thrilling 74-minute match at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon on Saturday (Sept 14).

The world No. 8 pair were trailing 14-19 and 18-20 in the first game but refused to give up and managed to come back strongly to win narrowly.

Ha-na-So-hee, though, snatched the second game after pulling away towards the end.

It was neck-to-neck in the first half of the third game before Pearly-Thinaah stepped up superbly to come away with the win.

The Malaysians also reached the final in last year’s edition, where they finished runners-up to Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti.

Pearly-Thinaah came second best in the Korean tourney too after losing to homesters Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong and will be out to capture their first title since winning the 2022 French Open.