PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan-M Thinaah’s hopes of winning the French Open women’s doubles title for the second time were dashed by arch-rivals Mayu Matsumoto-Yuki Fukushima of Japan in the final today.
Despite a strong start, the world No 4 Malaysian pair were eventually beaten by their third-ranked opponents 21-10, 17-21, 16-21 in a match lasting 63 minutes at the Arena Grand Paris.
Pearly-Thinaah are the only Malaysian women’s doubles pair to have reached the French Open final twice, having won the title in their first appearance in 2022.
The rivalry between the two pairs has been intense since they started playing against each other from 2024, with the Japanese shuttlers having beaten the Malaysians six times in their 11 encounters so far.
Pearly-Thinaah have made four final appearances this year, winning the Indonesia Masters in January and the Denmark Open last week.
They were bronze medallists at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games last month.