KUALA LUMPUR: Despite potentially setting a new world record, national women's doubles players, Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah do not want to face another long rally anytime soon.
Today, after labouring for close to 90 minutes, the world No 11 pair checked into the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters, following a 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 win over Japan's Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto in the second round.
Going into the match against a Japanese combination, Pearly-Thinaah had expected a gruelling encounter, but a 211-shot rally to win the 17th point in the rubber was to be the talk of the town, or at least in Bukit Jalil. However, there was no way of confirming this, as only "TV courts" are tracked.
Unofficially, the longest rally as recorded by DNA India was 195 shots, which came in the women's doubles match between South Korea's Baek Ha Na-Lee Yu Rim and China's Du Yue-Li Wen Mei at the 2022 Korea Open.
Rena-Ayako, would go on to win three consecutive points after a short wipe down, but Pearly-Thinaah persevered to ensure Malaysia still had a women's doubles representative in the competition.
"We are just relieved this match is over, we want to go back now, have a good rest and come back tomorrow for another tough match," Pearly said in the post match interview.
On what kept them going in the rally, Thinaah added: "We were running out of steam, but we kept going because we could see our opponents tiring as well.
"I threw my racquet in the air because it felt like we had won a match."
Pearly admitted that she did not expect to kill the shot so soon, but also wasn't sure how much longer she could have gone on.
"I really don't know, I didn't expect to kill the shot then but I really don't know how much longer we could have gone on, not much longer than that for sure," she joked.
Pearly-Thinaah, French Open champions from last year, will face another Japanese duo, Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota, in the last eight tomorrow.
Expect another cracking match, as it has been neck to neck in five previous meetings. Yuki-Sayaka edged the Malaysians 3-2 on head to head record.
"It's always been a tight affair, so we are expecting another tough match. Hopefully, we will have the edge this time."
World No 9 Yuki-Sayaka, defeated South Korea's Lee Yu Lim-Shin Seung Chan in the second round.