Paris: Malaysia’s World No. 11 women’s doubles pair – Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan are just one win away from making history after progressing to the French Open final Saturday.
The success came after Tan/Muralitharan were playing with exceptional defense and speed to eventually defeated South Korean pair, Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee 21-13, 21-17 in the semi-finals.
Tan/Muralitharan are the second women’s doubles pair from Malaysia to reach the finals of the French Open since its inception in 1908.
Wong Pei Tty/Chin Ee Hui became the first to reach the final in 2008 but had to settle for the runners-up title after losing to Du Jing/Yu Yang of China 22-20, 19-21, and 11-21.
Tan/Muralitharan, who were also the gold medalist at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, will meet the fourth seed, Mayu Matsutomo/Wakana Nagahara from Japan in the final.
In men’s singles, World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen will play compatriot World No. 16 Rasmus Gemke in the final. Axelsen defeated Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-12, 21-8 while Gemke beat Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 21-18, 21-14 in the semi-finals.
The women’s singles competition saw 2016 Rio Olympic Champion Carolina Marin of Spain advanced to final after overcoming reigning World Champion Akane Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-18 while He Bingjiao of China saw off World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan 21-15, 21-10 in another semi-finals.
Meanwhile, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty will take on Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Taiwan in the men’s doubles final while China’s Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong will face off against Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek of Netherlands in the mixed doubles final.
