KUALA LUMPUR: Women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have been beating tough rivals in straight sets, and that is good for their confidence.
The Malaysian world No. 8 took only 31 minutes to defeat in-form Indonesians Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi 21-14, 21-13 in the Hong Kong Open quarter-finals today.
Though Febriana-Amallia looked imposing, having just won the Taiwan Open last week, they were no match for Pearly-Thinaah.
"We were quite prepared for them, winning in straight sets has really boosted our confidence.
"We just wanted to enjoy ourselves on the court and give our best in every match. Right now we want to focus on ourselves and our next match," said Thinaah.
Two weeks ago at the Korea Open, Pearly-Thinaah dropped only one set en route to the final, where they lost to home pair Jeong Na Eun-Kim Hye Jeong.
At the Hong Kong Open, they have yet to drop a game, but face a daunting task against world No. 2 Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee of South Korea in the semi-finals tomorrow.
However, Pearly-Thinaah have the psychological edge of having beaten the Asian champions at the Korea Open in two games.
"We have confidence in each other and our gameplay. We want to keep our momentum and consistency for the next match," said Pearly.
Thinaah added that their semi-final run at the recent Paris Olympics has also been a big plus to their confidence.
"Paris taught us that enjoying the game and supporting each other is very important. Every rally counts, and the result in Paris boosted our confidence," added Thinaah.
Meanwhile, men's pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun were shown the exit by Indonesians Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, 21-18, 21-15.