Countering attack with attack, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan took down the pair that has created a sensation in women’s doubles in recent weeks – Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.

The Indonesians, who won the Malaysia Open last Sunday, were given a taste of their own medicine by the sparkling counter-attacking play of the Malaysians, who barely did a thing wrong all match to enter the semifinals of the PERODUA Malaysia Masters 2022..

“No words. We’re happy. We did our parts really well and the crowd really helped us,” said Muralitharan. The “Pearly-Thinaah” chants reverberated across the stadium and appeared to lift the Malaysian duo to a level they haven’t consistently displayed in the past.

“We know they are aggressive, so we wanted to be even more aggressive, but also stay calm. Sometimes we are aggressive but we can be clumsy.”

There was no clumsiness, either in attack or in defence. Both returned the best shots that Rahayu and Ramadhanti threw their way, and with Tan’s inventive angles and Muralitharan’s deft touches at the net, the Malaysians surged to victory after midway through the second game.

“We did well today because we stayed focussed and stayed aggressive. But there were times when was rushed and we need to address that,” said Pearly Tan.  “We kept reminding ourselves to stay calm. We did well, but there’s room for improvement. At the end today I was too rushed, so that I need to improve.”