Pearly-Thinaah hope to break into top-20 next.
Pearly-Thinaah aim to maintain good form and break into top-20
PETALING JAYA: The sky’s the limit for fast-rising national women’s pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah following their exceptional outing at the two Thailand Opens last month.
Thanks to their creditable backto-back quarter-final finishes in Bangkok, the duo climbed nine spots to a career-best No. 30 in the latest world ranking released earlier this week.
And that has whetted their appetite to keep producing good results to break into the top-20 next.
“Our next target is to break into the top-20,” said the 20-year-old Pearly.
“We’re not setting a time frame to do it but I know that as long as we perform consistently in every tournament, then everything will fall into place.”
What’s more important for the burgeoning partnership, said Pearly, is to continue building on the fine momentum they generated from Bangkok.
Pearly-Thinaah will be best remembered for their famous win over world No. 9 Chang Ye-na-Kim Hye-rin of South Korea in the first round of Thailand Open II.
They clinched the 87-minute pulsating battle 16-21, 21-15, 27-25.
“We must prove that the win against the Koreans was no fluke. We must do it over and over again when we face top-ranked opponents in the future,” said Pearly.
“The win really did our confidence a whole world of good. I wouldn’t say we’re not capable of beating anyone, but it does make us believe that nothing is impossible.
“It’s crucial we keep this good form going as the last thing we want is to end up as one-tournament wonder.”
Thinaah has also refused to get carried away after making some encouraging progress.
“Yes, we’ve got some decent results in the past weeks and it has given us the right boost but we need to stay grounded,” stressed Thinaah.
“We will stick to the same approach – that’s taking one step at a time and not thinking too far ahead.
“It works really well for us, that’s why we’re able to focus and play to our best.”
Thinaah said she and Pearly still have plenty of work to do before they’re able to match the world’s top-10 rivals, especially from South Korea, Japan and China.
“To match and beat the best in the women’s doubles game, we’ve got to equip ourselves with high level of endurance and powerful attacking play,” said Thinaah.
“The matches would normally last quite long because it’s hard to kill off the rally. So Pearly and I must really train to be patient and increase our strength.”
Pearly-Thinaah will not have to wait for long to showcase their talent as they are expected to be entered for all three World Tour tournaments in Europe – Swiss Open (March 2-7), German Open (March 9-14) and All-England (March 16-21).