PETALING JAYA, July 24 — Malaysia’s world No 3 women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah booked their place in the quarter-finals of the China Open after a hard-fought win over Japan’s Rui Hirokami and Sayaka Hobara.

According to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), the more experienced Malaysian duo were pushed in the early stages but eventually prevailed 21-17, 21-13 in their second-round clash at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Changzhou.

The match lasted 38 minutes, with Pearly-Thinaah having to dig deep to overcome the world No 99 Japanese pair, who were playing together for only the fourth time in a BWF World Tour event.

According to the report, the Japanese pair had previously met the Malaysians in the semi-finals of the Thailand Open in May, where they also lost in straight games.

Pearly-Thinaah will next face the winners of the second-round match between Indonesia’s Fabriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi and Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto.

No Malaysian women’s doubles pair has ever reached the final of the China Open.