NATIONAL women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah had to dig deep in a three-set battle before securing a place in the final of the Arctic Open badminton tournament in Vantaa, Finland, today.
In the semi-finals held at the Vantaan Energia Areena, the second seeds were stunned after losing the first game 22-24 to Taiwan’s Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En Tzu.
However, Pearly-Thinaah bounced back with a commanding performance to dominate the second game 21-8.
The decider was also tightly contested, but the Malaysians’ experience and mental resilience proved decisive as they clinched a 21-17 victory to advance to the final.
Pearly-Thinaah, who finished as runners-up in last year’s edition, will face Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in the final tomorrow. – Bernama