Paris: The World No. 11 women’s pair Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan created history on Sunday by becoming the first women’s doubles pair from Malaysia to win the French Open title.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medalists defeated two-time world champions (2018, 2019) and current World No. 7 Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin arena.
The victory was also Tan/Muralitharan’s first win over Matsumoto/Nagahara in their first head-to-head face-off.
Highlights of Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan vs. Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara:
Malaysia’s badminton legend Lee Chong Wei who was the last Malaysian to win the French Open (2015), took to social media to congratulate Tan/Muralitharan for winning the French Open.
“Congrats to our princesses Pearly Tan 陈康乐 and @Thinaah Muralitharan U both did us proud. Reallly proud.
Pearly with her attacking prowess and Thinaah with her defensive strokes and cross court net shots; these two princesses did us real proud by being the FIRST French open women’s double champion.
Personally I think they can go far, further than most. Continue to be humble and train hard, the sky is the limit.
Both of them are humble players always seeking advices from seniors like me. So I’m so happy they managed this feat especially they fought the best Indonesian, Korean and Japanese pairs to the title.
Side note :
Sungguhpun I suka makan coklat, aku tak pernah sebut begitu dekat dekat kawan kawan Kita. I know u don’t mean harm, but as we are being professional; it’s pivotal all coaches and players know their boundaries.
Side note 2 :
Td Semasa game
Aku : “wow Thinaah ni memang bagus defend. Macam papan. ”
Kingston : “ya . Kak Thinaah ni power”
Lcw : “ya, si Pearly ni smash power, lompat cam katak !”
Kingston : “Katak x baik , papa …. kena kata pearly lompat cam kangaroo . Jgn guna katak, papa… “
Budak ni…..
打败两支印尼组合、一支韩国组合、两支日本的世界冠军，很不简单呐，知道你们训练辛苦，这个冠军你们值得拥有，这也是好的开始，希望你们拿了这个含金量超高的金牌后，可以吸收更多的经验，为你们感到骄傲🇲🇾 #demimalaysia”
The French Open is the second oldest badminton tournament after All England. Wong Pei Tty/Chin Ee Hui was the first Malaysian women’s pair to advance to the French Open final (2008) but lost to Du Jing/Yu Yang of China 22-20, 19-21, and 11-21.
After beating the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Chen Yufei 22-20, 12-21, 21-10 to win last week’s Denmark Open title, China’s women’s singles World No. 8 He Bingjiao held off the late surge from the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist – Carolina Marin of Spain when Marin came back from 4-11 in the decider to level the score at 20-20. He Bingjiao held her nerves to ultimately see off Marin 16-21, 21-9, 22-20 to claim the French Open title in a match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes.
Highlights of He Bingjiao vs. Carolina Marin:
The China squad also picked up its second title of the tournament when the unstoppable mixed doubles pair – Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong saved 4 match points to win their ninth title this year.
Zheng/Huang were trailing 16-20 in the decider, but they scored 6 consecutive points to come from behind to beat Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek of Netherlands 21-16, 14-21, 22-20 in 55 minutes. With that win, Zheng/Huang maintained a 100% success rate for winning in the final of any tournament this season.
Highlights of Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong vs. Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek:
