Kuala Lumpur: Facing last week’s Malaysia Open champions, World No. 10 Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan from Malaysia stayed calm and focused in the quarter-finals of Malaysia Masters to beat Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia 21-18, 21-17 in 42 minutes.
The victory allowed Tan/Muralitharan to advance to the semi-finals and they are scheduled to meet the No. 1 seeds Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan of China who outlasted compatriots Du Yue/Li Wen Mei 21-15, 21-13 in another quarter-final match.
After Friday’s win, Tan/Muralitharan leveled their head-to-head record against Rahayu/Ramadhanti to 1-1 as they went down to the Indonesian pair in the semi-final of the Indonesia Open last month.
Meanwhile, Anna Cheong Ching Yik/Teoh Mei Xing who defeated World No. 6 Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara in the second round, couldn’t carry their momentum into the quarter-finals by losing to Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong of Korea 14-21, 18-21.
Cheong/Teoh have decided to pull out of the 2022 Singapore Open as Teoh has sustained an injury to her shoulder.
“I had a minor shoulder injury since the start of Malaysia Masters,” said Teoh.
In mixed doubles, China’s World No. 1 Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong proved too strong for Malaysia’s World No. 15 Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Lai, beating the Malaysians 21-10, 21-14 in 27 minutes.
Zheng/Huang will meet Taiwanese pair Yang Po Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang in the semi-finals.
In the women’s singles semi-finals, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia will play An Se Young of Korea at the top half of the bracket while Chen Yu Fei and Tai Tzu Ying will again set up a blockbuster showdown with Tai Tzu Ying in another women’s singles semi-finals.
