Arif Junaidi and Haikal Nazri are quietly but surely making a name for themselves after storming into the final of the Ukraine International.
The national backup men's doubles pair produced yet another top notch display to beat India's P. Ravikrishna-Sankar Prasad Udayakumar 21-19, 21-14 in the semi-finals at the Lokomotiv Sports Palace in Kharkv yesterday.
A day earlier, Arif-Haikal stunned France's second seeds Fabien Delrue-William Villeger 21-19, 21-19 in the quarter-finals.
The pair faced India's Ishaan Bhatnagar-K. Sai Pratheek, who foiled an all-Malaysian final by beating Loo Bing Kun-Lwi Sheng Hao 24-22, 21-17, for the title in a late match yesterday.
Arif-Haikal had won the Hellas International in Greece last week as well as the Austrian Open in May.
They were also runners-up at the Latvian International in August to compatriots Nurfirdaus Azman-Yap Roy King.
Mixed doubles pair Roy King-Valeree Siow also stayed on track for a third straight title after checking into the final.
Roy King-Valeree, who were successful in Latvia and Greece, overcame Germany's Malik Bourakkadi-Annabella Jaeger 21-17, 21-14 in the semi-finals. They were set to play Germany's seventh seeds Johannes Pistorius-Emma Moszczynski for the title.
Valeree, however, fell short in the women's doubles semi-finals when she and Low Yeen Yuan went down to Germans Stine Kuspert-Emma Moszczynski 16-21, 18-21.
Men's singles Ong Ken Yon lost 21-19, 17-21, 17-21 to India's Sathish Kumar Karunakaran after a gruelling 70-minute battle in the last four.