KUALA LUMPUR: Women's pair Pearly Tan–M. Thinaah stayed composed when the scoreboard offered little comfort. They hung on and were rewarded with a place in the French Open final.
The Malaysians recovered from 11–3 down in the second game to beat Japan's world No. 5 Rin Iwanaga–Kei Nakanishi 21–17, 22–20 in the semi-finals at Arena Grand Paris on Saturday.
The victory sent last week's Denmark Open champions into successive Super 750 finals for the first time in their careers.
Pearly said the key to their comeback was resisting the temptation to rush as they tried to close the eight-point gap.
"Actually, I didn't think about the scoreline so much because we knew they had changed their game and were putting us under pressure," said Pearly.
"We just thought about how to bring the game back to the way we wanted to play.
"If we thought about the scoreline, we would rush to chase the points instead of controlling our game."
Thinaah credited their opponents for forcing mistakes but said their support for each other helped them through the difficult moments.
"They really pressured us, and we made a lot of mistakes under that pressure," she said.
"The most important thing is to keep supporting each other, no matter the scoreline or whether we are having good or bad moments," she said.
Pearly–Thinaah will contest their first French Open final since winning the title in 2022.
Thinaah said they had come a long way since that unexpected breakthrough, with greater expectations now accompanying their appearances.
"There have been a lot of obstacles. Back then, we didn't expect to win the title in Paris," she said.
"This year, a lot of people have good expectations of us. We wanted to turn those expectations into motivation to keep going."
For Pearly, enjoying badminton has helped her stay focused on each rally.
"I just love badminton so much, and I enjoy every moment I play, every shot I play," she said.
"When I enjoy the game, I don't think about winning or losing. I just think about how I am going to play every rally and every shot."
They will meet either Japan's Yuki Fukushima–Mayu Matsumoto or Indonesia's Rachel Allessya Rose–Febi Setianingrum in tomorrow's final.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd