Pearly-Thinaah vow to make fans happy this week [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have made a pledge to home fans ahead of the season-opening Malaysia Open — to stay in the tournament for as long as they can this week.

Scarred by early exits in previous editions, the world No. 2 are determined to give supporters more days — and more matches — to follow at the Axiata Arena.

"We just hope the fans can keep watching us for many days at a tournament. That's my main target this year," said Pearly, after receiving a RM50,000 incentive on behalf of the pair from sponsor 100PLUS for their SEA Games gold in Thailand last month.

Despite being seeded second, Pearly insisted there would be no bold claims — only effort and patience.

Asked whether she dares to dream of a home final, she replied: "I'll try my best. Step by step, as usual. Of course we have high expectations. We're seeded second, so the expectations are high — but we have to turn those expectations into motivation."

Pearly-Thinaah open against India's Rutaparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda, with a possible second-round meeting against either Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand or Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Meilysa Trias Puspitasari.

A likely quarter-final, however, could see them face South Korea's Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee, followed by China's Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian or Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto of Japan in the semi-final.

"The first round) I don't think it will be easy. Everyone knows we have never really played well at the Malaysia Open," said Pearly.

"I just hope we can play well in the first round and clear the first hurdle."

Pearly-Thinaah head into the 2026 season on the back of their best campaign yet.

Last year, they lifted four titles — including the Thailand Open, Japan Masters and Arctic Open — and finished runners-up on four other occasions, notably at the World Championships and Indonesia Open.

They also made five more semi-final appearances, among them the World Tour Finals and China Open, a run that propelled them to world No. 2, just one step shy of emulating Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty in becoming the world No. 1.

Yet, Pearly is well aware that climbing one rung higher will not come easily.

Pearly admitted that while the ranking gap may look small on paper, it remains significant — and closing it will require delivering at the biggest stages.

"The points gap is still quite big. Even though it's only first and second, everyone knows it's still a long way to go," she said.

"We've never won a Super 1000 tournament yet — so we'll try."

Pearly was also asked how she planned to use the 100PLUS incentive — but admitted there has been little time to think beyond the court.

"I don't really have time to think about doing anything with it yet," she said.

"I'm still in training — now it's Malaysia Open, after that India Open, then Indonesia Masters. So for now, my focus is just on training and the tournaments."

She also expressed gratitude to the long-time sponsor for backing them throughout their rise.

"Of course we really appreciate 100PLUS, because they supported us not only now. From when we were still outside the top 10 until where we are now, they've always been there. It really gives us a lot of motivation to do well."