Malaysia’s top men’s doubles pair, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, recovered from a shaky start to advance to the second round of the 2026 Malaysia Masters at Arena Unifi today.
The tournament top seeds were stunned in the opening game by Singapore’s Wesley Koh and Kubo Junsuke after falling 19-21 in the first set.
However, the 2022 world champions quickly regained control with a much sharper display to dominate the next two sets 21-10, 21-12 in 45 minutes, securing their first-ever win over the Singaporean pair.
Wooi Yik admitted they struggled to find their rhythm early in the match but managed to capitalise on their opponents’ mistakes in the following sets.
“In the second and third sets, we played almost the same way as in the first, but we managed to take advantage after our opponents made many unforced errors,” he told reporters after the match.
The world No. 2 pair will next face either France’s Julien Maio-William Villeger or Scotland twin brothers Christopher Grimley-Matthew Grimley in the second round tomorrow.
Meanwhile, two other Malaysian men’s doubles pairs also booked their spots in the second round of the Super 500 tournament after overcoming their opening hurdles.
Fifth seeds Wan Arif Wan Junaidi and Yap Roy King were pushed to the limit before defeating Taiwan’s He Zhi-Wei and Huang Jui-Hsuan 21-19, 15-21, 21-11.
Another national pair, Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai, also staged a comeback after losing the opening set to beat Taiwan’s Lai Po Yu and Tsai Fu Cheng 17-21, 21-19, 21-16.
Professional pair Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, seeded third in the tournament, also advanced comfortably after defeating Indonesia’s Muh Putra Erwiansyah and Bagas Maulana 21-10, 21-14 in just 30 minutes.
Despite the straight-sets victory, Sze Fei admitted the Indonesian duo still provided a strong challenge, but was relieved they managed to close out the match in convincing fashion.
Sze Fei and Izzuddin will next face fellow Malaysian professional pair Chia Wei Jie and Teo Ee Yi in the second round after the duo defeated Canada’s Kevin Lee and Ty Alexander Lindeman 21-18, 21-15.
