Malaysian men’s doubles pair Wan Arif Wan Junaidi and Yap Roy King stormed into the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open with a straight-game victory over compatriots Choong Hon Jian and Haikal Nazri today. The duo secured the win 21-17, 21-19 in just 39 minutes, in a rematch of last month’s Macau Open semi-final.
Arif and Roy King will face either India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty or Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in tomorrow’s quarter-finals. The world No. 20 pair had earlier stunned top Danish duo Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the first round.
The pair, who claimed the Macau Open title in August by defeating an Indonesian team in the final, have been praised by their coaching staff as Malaysia’s fastest-improving men’s doubles combination.
