Bangkok: After 87-minutes of undiluted drama against World No. 9 Chang Ye Na/Kim Hye Rin of Korea, Malaysia’s World No. 39 women’s doubles pair, Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan saved 4 match-points in the decider to beat the sixth-seeded Korean pair Chang Ye Na/Kim Hye Rin on Wednesday.
The young pair from Malaysia sparked an incredible comeback after losing the first game 16-21. Tan/Thinaah kept their cool to prevail in the second set 21-15 and dragged the match into the decider.
In the thrilling third set, Tan/Thinaah had to work extremely hard to survive a nerve-jangling game, when they came back from 18-20 to eventually win the game with 27-25.
The Malaysian pair will face French pair Vimala Heriau/Margot Lambert for a place in the quarter-finals.
Another Malaysian women’s doubles pair, Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean also finished strong on Wednesday when they overcame Rachel Honderich/Kristen Tsai of Canada 21-17, 21-16 to set up a second-round meeting with Setyana Mapasa/Gronya Somerville of Australia.
Luck, however, was not on the side of World No. 11 mixed doubles pair, Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing, who was stranded in the first round after outlasted by England’s seventh seeds Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith 21-14, 15-21, 19-21.
Another Malaysian mixed pair, Hoo Pang Ron/Cheah Yee See, managed to bounce back from losing the second set with a hard-fought win against Reddy B. Sumeeth/Reddy N. Sikki of India 21-14, 18-21, 21-13. They will play Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue of France next.
French’s World No. 15 Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue, on the other hand, pulled off the biggest upset of the day for the mixed doubles event when they defeated World No. 4 Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti and last week’s YONEX Thailand Open runners-up from Indonesia 14-21, 21-9, 21-13.
