Pearly Tan-M Thinaah failed to reach the women’s doubles final at the World Tour Finals after losing to Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the semi-finals today.
The world No 2 pair and top seeds were defeated 21-19, 21-13 in a 61-minute match at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.
This marked their second defeat to the fifth-ranked Japanese duo in as many days. Pearly-Thinaah had previously lost to Yuki-Mayu in three games during their final group-stage tie yesterday.
Despite the loss, Pearly-Thinaah won prize money of US$60,000 (RM244,686) for reaching the semis in the World Tour Super 1000 event.
The head-to-head score between Pearly-Thinaah and Yuki-Mayu now stands at 5-3 in favour of the Malaysians.
This was Pearly-Thinaah’s most successful outing at the World Tour Finals, having finished bottom of their group in 2022 and 2024, and failing to qualify for the tournament in 2023.
Despite today’s setback, Pearly-Thinaah have enjoyed a standout season, winning three titles from seven Badminton World Federation world tour final appearances. Their victories came at the Thailand Open, Arctic Open and Japan Masters.
They were also runners-up at the prestigious World Championships in August and clinched the SEA Games gold medal in Bangkok last week.
