Malaysian women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah advance to Japan Masters final, while Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin fall in semi-finals.
NATIONAL women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah advanced to the Japan Masters 2025 final after a hard-fought semi-final victory.
The top-seeded Malaysians needed 57 minutes to overcome Japanese third seeds Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto 24-22, 23-21 at Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
This marks their seventh final appearance of the season as they chase their third title of the year.
The world number two pair extended their dominant head-to-head record over Fukushima-Matsumoto to 5-1 with today’s victory.
They will face Japanese fourth seeds Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi in tomorrow’s final after the home duo upset South Korean second seeds Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong 21-16, 21-11.
Pearly-Thinaah hold a 6-2 advantage over Iwanaga-Nakanishi in their previous eight meetings.
The Malaysians claimed their first title this year at the Thailand Open in May before adding the Arctic Open crown in Finland last month.
Meanwhile, professional men’s doubles pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani fell in their semi-final match.
The second seeds suffered a 12-21, 17-21 defeat to unseeded Japanese duo Hiroki Midorikawa-Kyohei Yamashita in 38 minutes.
Midorikawa-Yamashita will face either Korean top seeds Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae or Taiwanese pair Chiu Hsiang Chieh-Wang Chi-Lin in tomorrow’s final.
Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin captured their only title of the season at the India Open 2025 in January.
Their bid for a second title this year ended when they lost to the same Korean pair in the Japan Open 2025 final in July. – Bernama
