German Open: Pearly-Thinaah into semis to face India Open winners Matsuyama-Shida

The Malaysia women’s doubles pair came through after registering a 21-17, 18-21, 21-11 victory over Japanese pair Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara, whom they also beat to win the 2022 French Open.

Their reward is a tie against another Japanese pair, Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.

The world number six must somehow find a way to get past this top seeded pair, whom they only beat once in eight meetings at last year’s French Open.

This year, both sides met at the India Open, which was clinically won by Matsuyama-Shida in straight games.

Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei, who were the other Malaysian pair left in the quarter-finals, did their best against South Korea’s Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun, but lost 20-22, 14-21.

Nonetheless, it was a commendable effort by Chen-Toh as they gradually eased their way against some of the top pairs in the world and were expected to be the leading Malaysian mixed doubles pair in the near future.

Since being paired together late last year, the world number 43 pair already won the Bangladesh International and the Iran International.