Malaysia's interest at the World Tour Finals (WTF) in Hangzhou, China ended in the semi-finals after Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei both lost their matches on Saturday.

The national pairs' defeat also ends the year for Malaysian shuttlers, who will next prepare for the 2026 year beginning with the Malaysia Open in January.

Tan-Thinaah were first to exit this lucrative season finale following a 19-21, 13-21 defeat against Japanese pair Yuki Fukuhisma-Mayu Matsumoto.

Astonishingly, both pairs were drawn to play each other again in the semis having just played at their Group A match on Friday.

The Malaysians had lost that final group match to the Japanese as well, but finished as group champions having won their earlier two group matches.

In truth, the Friday defeat was a much closer affair compared to this tame loss which saw Tan-Thinaah run out of steam in the end.

Both times, the world number two pair started well but failed to find a way past the resolute Fukuhisma-Matsumoto.

Chen-Toh provided a much sterner test against China's Jiang Zhen Bang-Wei Ya Xin, but ended up bowing out of the competition after a 21-9, 11-21, 17-21 defeat.

The world champions looked on course to reach a second WTF final after a dominant first game victory.

But Jiang-Wei recovered well to win the next two games against a tiring Chen-Toh.

It has been a gruelling schedule for all four national shuttlers who also played at the SEA Games in Bangkok last week.

Tan-Thinaah won the women's doubles gold on Dec 14 before flying to Hangzhou for this event, while Chen-Toh also reached the multi-sports semis last week.