Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah gave Malaysians a big cheer for the French Open after they defeated All England champions Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 15-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 73 minutes to reach the semi-finals on Friday.

The Malaysians, who were on the receiving end of racial remarks on Thursday, were made to play catch up in the first game against their Japanese opponents as they adopted a defensive approach that consisted of drop-shots and clears from the baseline.

Tan-Thinaah’s best moment in the opener came when they clawed back from 7-14 to 12-14, but Shida-Matsuyama were composed enough to eventually pull to convert for the lead.

But the Malaysians upped the pace and took the second game to the world number three, hitting harder and taking bigger risks that paid off for the 21-14 win.

Fired up from that, the Commonwealth Games gold medallists powered through in the same vein to take a 11-4 lead before sealing victory against their opponents for the first time.

They will hope to repeat the same performance against South Koreans Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, who had earlier dumped out top seeds Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan.

Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi failed to join them in the last four after the professional pair went down 18-21, 18-21 against South Koreans Choi Sol-gyu-Kim Won-ho despite a spirited showing.