PETALING JAYA, Nov 21 — Women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are in good spirits after advancing to the second round of the China Masters.

After an early exit at the Japan Masters last week, the world No. 6 duo are glad to have come out stronger in Shenzhen, defeating China’s new pairing of Ding Keyun-Wang Yiduo 21-16, 21-14 yesterday, The Star reported.

Despite their progress, the fifth-seeded Malaysians noted areas in their game that need improvement.

“We are happy to be back on court but aren’t too satisfied with the first-round match. At the start, we made mistakes that shouldn’t have happened, but towards the end, we reminded each other to stay calm and enjoy every shot we play. That really helped us,” Thinaah was quoted saying.

Pearly echoed her teammate’s comments, adding, “We did make a lot of mistakes, so all we can hope for is to be better for the next match.”

In Japan last week, Pearly-Thinaah fell to newly formed Japanese pair Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the first round.

However, the Malaysians used the remaining time in Japan to train before arriving in Shenzhen.

“We lost on Tuesday last week, so after that, we remained in Japan to train and prepare for this tournament in China,” Thinaah was reported saving

“It is good to be back in China, and we are looking forward to the crowds here because we have a lot of supporters here.”

Pearly-Thinaah could face Taiwan’s Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih-yun or Japan’s Arisa Igarashi-Ayako Sakuramoto in the second round today.

Meanwhile, mixed doubles duo Wong Tien Ci-Lim Chiew Sien took down Algeria’s Koceila Mammeri-Taina Mammeri 21-15, 21-13 to set up a second-round meeting with third-seed Hong Kong pair Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet.

Also advancing was mixed doubles pair Hoo Pang Ron-Cheng Su Yin, who made it through after winning 21-17, 21-12 against Taiwan’s Liu Kuang-heng-Jheng Yu-chieh and will meet second-seed Chinese pair Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin next.

Zhenbang-Yaxin had earned their way into the second round after winning 21-18, 21-11 against world No. 18 Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing.