Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah break their first-round curse at the Malaysia Open, setting up a second-round rematch of the SEA Games final against Indonesia.
PEARLY Tan and M. Thinaah have finally broken their Malaysia Open jinx.
The national women’s doubles pair secured a convincing 21-11, 21-9 first-round victory over India’s Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda in just 30 minutes at Axiata Arena today.
The win books a highly anticipated second-round clash for the second seeds.
They will face Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari tomorrow in a rematch of last month’s SEA Games Thailand 2025 final.
Pearly-Thinaah won that thrilling encounter 21-16, 19-21, 21-17 to deliver Malaysia’s sole badminton gold.
Despite holding a perfect 4-0 record against the Indonesians, Pearly cautioned against complacency.
“We have to prepare physically and mentally well, rest and eat well and try to focus for tomorrow’s match,” she said.
Today’s victory ended a run of three consecutive first-round exits at their home tournament.
Pearly admitted the relief of finally advancing, especially in front of their supporters.
“We were also disappointed that we couldn’t give fans a chance to see us in the second round. So this year we really focused on our gameplay and that really helped a lot,” she said.
Partner Thinaah hopes to maintain momentum as they chase a first-ever Malaysia Open quarter-final.
Their Indonesian opponents advanced earlier with a 21-9, 21-23, 21-19 win over India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela.
The Malaysia Open 2026 runs until Jan 11.
