MEN'S doubles Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik are just one step away from winning their first major international title after the pair stormed into the final of the Toyota Thailand Open yesterday.
The World No 9 delivered a dominant performance in smashing past 10th-ranked R. Satwiksairaj-S. Chirag 21-18, 21-18 in the semi-finals at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
It is certainly a huge statement of intent from the national No 1, who were arguably far from their best when they lost in the first round of last week's Yonex Thailand Open.
It is also the pair's first final in an open tournament in two years since finishing runners-up at the All England in 2019.
However, they will face a tall order in the final today against Taiwan's World No 7 Lee Yang-Wang Chi Lin, who won last week's Yonex Thailand Open by beating Malaysia's Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong.
"Our game plan today was to go in and play an attacking game against our opponents," said Wooi Yik.
"We started well in the first game but made some errors. However, we managed to adjust to take the win."
Aaron said: "We were under a lot of pressure ahead of the match.
"However, we fought through everything that our opponents threw at us.
"I knew Satwiksairaj is a great attacking player, but we were prepared for him.
"Ultimately, we knew what we had to do to take the win, and we stuck to the plan.
"It's a good win for us. I believe we have regained some of that confidence from 2019. We are really looking forward to the final."
Aaron-Wooi Yik, who have never won an 'Open' title since coming together as a pair in 2017, will certainly fancy their chances of finally breaking the duck.
Their only title as a pair was achieved at the Philippines Sea Games in 2019 when they won the men's doubles gold medal.
Lee Yang-Chi Lin were also on fire as they pulled off a superb 14-21, 22-20, 21-12 win over reigning world champions and second seeds Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in the other semi-final.
"Ahsan-Hendra controlled the opening game with a lot of smashes. However, we used speed and power to apply pressure in the subsequent games," said Chi Lin.
"It is a good win for us as they are an experienced pair."