KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah marched into their maiden All England semi-final after defeating Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in the quarter-finals at the Utilita Arena, Birmingham.
The world number two pair took just 43 minutes to overcome the Indonesians in straight sets, 21-9, 21-18.
The victory also made Pearly-Thinaah the first Malaysian women’s pair to reach the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament since Wong Pei Tty -Chin Eei Hui in 2007.
The Malaysians will next face South Korea’s Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee, who earlier cruised past Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto 21-18, 21-7 in another quarter-final match.
None have gone beyond the semi-finals, and Pearly-Thinaah will be looking to do just that.
The Malaysians do have a chance as both pairs are locked at 3-3 in their head-to-head record, although the Koreans won their last meeting in the China Masters quarter-finals last year, which was a cliffhanger that saw Pearly-Thinaah lose 20-22 in the deciding game.
Thinaah was delighted to make their first semi-final appearance in their sixth attempt since 2021.
“After six years, we are here. It’s a big relief,” said Thinaah.
“We reached the quarter-finals last year, and there had been several occasions when we were close but yet far. But to finally make a breakthrough is a really happy feeling.”The pair were the quarter-finalists at the 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025 editions but lost in the opening round in 2023.