KUALA LUMPUR: Women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah gave themselves too much to do in their first-round defeat to Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto at the Kumamoto Masters in Japan today.
Malaysia's world No. 7 started the match on the wrong foot, losing the first game 21-9.
And Matusumoto-Fukushima have some serious pedigree under their belts.
Matsumoto is a two-time women's doubles world champion with former partner Wakana Nagahara, while Fukushima is twice an Asian champion with former partner, Sayaka Hirota.
Fukushima-Hirota were also twice World Championships runners-up to Matsumoto-Nagahara.
However, Pearly-Thinaah did not give up, storming back to win the second game against the new Japanese pairing.
In the third, Pearly-Thinaah once again found themselves on the back foot, trailing 11-6 at the interval.
But they clawed back the deficit and took the lead, 19-15, before nerves got the better of the Malaysians.
They could not close the match and were defeated 9-21, 21-14, 21-23 in an hour.
Fukushima-Matusumoto will face either Vivian Hoo-Lim Chiew Sien of Malaysia or compatriots Kaho Osawa-Mai Tanabe in the second round.
Earlier, men's pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King also exited the tournament after losing to former world champions Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi from Japan 21-14, 21-15.