KUALA LUMPUR: Women's doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah's aim of breaking their preliminary round jinx at the Malaysia Open will be aided by the absences of nemeses Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida of Japan and Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yan of China.
World No. 6 Pearly-Thinaah lost in the second round on their debut in 2022 but crashed out in the first round in the next two editions.
The absences of world No. 3 Matsuyama-Shida and Olympic champions Qing Chen-Yi Fan also mean they fancy their chances of a semi-final spot for the first time in the home tournament.
Pearly-Thinaah have head-to-head records to forget against Matsuyama-Shida (11-1) and Qing Chen-Yi Fan (8-1), and it will be a relief for the Malaysian pairs to avoid any confrontation against them.
Sheng Shu-Tan Ning, world No. 2 Lee So Hee-Baek Ha Na of South Korea and world No. 5 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi of Japan are the top three pairs competing at the Super 1000 Malaysia Open.
Former BAM high performance director Datuk James Selvaraj feels that Pearly-Thinaah must be clinical and focused to take advantage of the absences of several strong pairs at the Axiata Arena next week.
"They have been struggling with fitness due to a hectic schedule. They need to be mentally and physically stronger to go far at the Malaysia Open," said James.
"With Matsuyama-Shida and the Olympic champions missing from the list, Pearly-Thinaah have a better chance of reaching the semi-finals.
"They have been trying to take the pressure away by being relaxed on court but sometimes, the approach may backfire against top five pairs.
"They need to be clinical and play with a higher intensity to match them."
Last year, Pearly-Thinaah were beaten in straight games by Sheng Shu-Tan Ning in the first round.