Hong Kong: Malaysia’s World No. 10 women’s doubles pair of Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan, are set for a showdown with Indonesia’s World No. 8 Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti in the final of the 2023 Hong Kong Open Super 500 on Sunday.
Tan/Muralitharan, who are seeded sixth in the tournament, advanced to the final after defeating Thai sisters pair – Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-13, 21-18 in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Highlights of Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan vs. Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn Aimsaard in the 2023 Hong Kong Open semi-finals:
The Indonesian duo, seeded seventh, also reached the final in straight games, defeating Danish pair Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen 21-16, 23-21.
This will be the fifth time that Tan/Muralitharan and the Indonesian pair have met on court, with the head-to-head record evenly split at 2-2.
“We are very happy to reach the final and it means a lot to us,” said Thinaah after the semi-final. “We will strive for adequate rest and be prepared for a tough battle against the Indonesians.”
“Every opponent is different and it is not easy to beat each other, so we have to be fully prepared and stay focused. We are very happy to win the semi-final, but we still have a lot to improve and must stay focused on the court,” said Tan.
The final is expected to be a close and exciting contest, with both pairs evenly matched. Tan/Muralitharan will be hoping to rely on their strong defense and quick reflexes to overcome the Indonesians’ powerful attack.
In women’s singles, although Malaysia’s World No. 34 Goh Jin Wei fought tenaciously, she lost 14-21, 11-21 in 29 minutes to China’s Zhang Yiman in straight games in the semi-finals of the women’s singles.
Goh had won all three previous matches against Zhang Yiman, ranked 17th in the world, but those were in 2018 and 2019.
Zhang Yiman will challenge Japan’s top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the final.
Meanwhile, Guo Xin Wa/Wei Ya Xin of China will take on Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong in the final.
