Hong Kong's Tie Yana and Zhang Rui suffered a heartbreaker last night as they lost the final of the Qatar Open to Wang Nan and Zhang Yining of China in a seven-setter.
The Hong Kong pair had to settle for second place in the women's doubles as they narrowly went down 4-3 after battling for an hour against the duo who are probably the best women's doubles pair in the world.
The Doha event offers a total prize money of US$200,000, attracting the best paddlers from all over the world.
Tie and Zhang, who dominated the women's doubles in the Pro Tour 2005 after snatching six titles to stay on top of the year-end standings, came very close to beating the reigning Olympic and world champions from China.
The score was level at 6-6 and 8-8 in the final set before the Chinese took the next two points for a controlling 10-8 lead and sealed the victory at 12-10 after deuce.
The Hong Kong duo had earlier ended the brave run of the Czech Republic's Renata Strbikova and Iveta Vacenovska in the semi-final, disposing of their opponents in straight sets, 11-8, 12-10, 11-3, 11-7 while second-seeded Wang and Zhang beat compatriots Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia 4-1 (11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10) to reach the final.