Can Pearly-Thinaah smash a hole in the Great Wall in Paris?
The world No. 3 Malaysians now have to reckon with not one but two super Chinese pairs on the World Tour.
It's not only world No. 1 Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning, but also their teammates world No. 7 Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian who are a thorn in the Malaysians' side.
While Sheng Shu-Tan Ning hold a 9-3 head-to-head record against Pearly-Thinaah after defeating them in the finals of the recent Indonesia and Japan Opens, Yi Fan-Shu Xian subdued the Malaysian duo 21-14, 21-17 in the China Open semi-final in Changzhou today, and extending their head-to-head record to 4-1.
This has raised concerns among Malaysian fans that Sheng Shu-Tan Ning and Yi Fan-Shu Xian will be stumbling blocks to Pearly-Thinaah in the Paris World Championships from August 25–31.
However, national women's doubles head coach Rosman Razak is not overly worried about the Chinese Great Wall.
He felt that Pearly-Thinaah's loss was more about Yi Fan-Shu Xian's superior decision-making and quality at the net.
"Today, we lost mainly in the front court area. Our opponents made better decisions and their quality at the net was superior.
"Physically, we are getting stronger, and the most important thing is that we came through these two weeks of tournaments injury-free.
"Overall, our performance over the past two weeks has been good, except for the two matches we lost (to Chinese pairs). There's still a lot to take away.
"We now have a three-week break before the World Championships. We'll use this time to work on our mistakes here."
Pearly-Thinaah felt that Yi Fan-Shu Xian capitalised on home-ground advantage and dealt with the draught at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium better than them.
Yi Fan-Shu Xian stuck to a sound game plan and maintained their aggression throughout, and also doused a late fightback by Pearly-Thinaah to win in just 38 minutes. Pearly-Thinaah pocketed US$28,000 (RM118,286) as the China Open losing semi-finalists.
The Malaysians found themselves trailing 12-5 in the second game, but managed to close the gap to 19-17. However, Pearly admitted their rally came a little too late.
"Yi Fan-Shu Xian adapted to the court conditions very well and had the right strategy to handle the draught in the first game — they played with the draught. We need to adjust our strategy more quickly.
"Win or lose, it's a valuable experience. We'll go back and analyse our performance."
The defeat ended Pearly-Thinaah's hopes of reaching a third consecutive World Tour final, following their strong showings at the Indonesia and Japan Opens.
However, Thinaah felt that they managed to carry their momentum from Japan into the Super 1000 event in China this week, and that has motivated them ahead of the World Championships.
"Our momentum has been good, and we're happy with that, but there's still room for improvement," said Thinaah.
"The World Championships are coming up, and we want to prepare thoroughly."
Despite falling short, Pearly-Thinaah will achieve a career-high world No. 2
ranking on Tuesday.
But the question is can Pearly-Thinaah smash a hole in the Great Wall at the World Championships? They need to find a solution to counter both Sheng Shu-Tan Ning and Yi Fan-Shu Xian.
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