Last-Gasp Semifinal Berth for Japanese
Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto secured a semifinal berth at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025 after a narrow win over Group B leaders Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan.
· BWF STAFF
The Japanese needed a win to qualify ahead of Jia Yi Fan/Zhang Shu Xian and started strong, but after the Malaysians levelled at a game apiece the match turned into a tight contest, with neither pair able to establish a clear lead. The outcome hung by a thread at 19-all, but the Japanese got a huge reprieve with Tan serving into the net, and they capitalised on the opening to take the match 21-15 16-21 21-19.
Jia/Zhang won their second match of the group, 21-11 21-8 over Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi, but finished third on game difference.
“In the first game we couldn’t play the way we wanted, so for the second game we discussed on how to execute and it was better,” said Muralitharan. “In the third, it was about supporting each other and staying calm and applying pressure. They did well to pressure us, but now this result is in the past and we have to get back.