KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 47 Yap Roy King-Wan Arif Junaidi pulled off the biggest men's doubles upset of the day at the Malaysia Masters when they sent fourth seeds Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan of Taiwan packing in the last 16 today.
Roy King-Arif bounced back from 11-8 down in the rubber game to clinch a remarkable 13-21, 21-15, 21-18 victory, summing up a fine day for the hosts in the event as Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, and Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun have also secured their passage to the quarterfinals.
But it was Roy King-Arif's victory over world No. 12 Jhe Huei-Po Hsuan that stole the limelight considering the latter's fine run of form lately.
After winning the German Open, the Taiwanese duo also impressed with a runner-up finish at the French Open and were semi-finalists of the All England and Asia Championships. They also helped their country to win a historic medal at the Thomas Cup in Chengdu.
Arif said he was surprised at staging the comeback win, which earned them a second straight quarterfinals appearance after the Thailand Open last week.
"We didn't expect this. We only wanted to give our opponents a tough fight, and when the score was tied 11-11 in the final game, we knew the momentum was switching to our side. After we took the lead, even though our opponents were chasing us, we remained patient and resilient to close out the win," said Arif.
Roy King added: "Beating opponents ranked higher than us will surely boost our confidence and prove that we have what it takes against anyone in the top 30."
"That fuels our desire of wanting to break into the top 32 as soon as possible and be eligible to play in all the top-tier competitions. That's when we get to play against the top pairs on a regular basis and get to learn from them and identify the areas we need to improve."
Roy King-Arif, whose best outing was finishing runners-up at the Spain Masters in March, will seek to reach their first Super 500 semifinal when they go up against Rasmus Kjaer-Frederik Sogaard next.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Aaron-Wooi Yik survived a scare when they needed three games to tame Chinese newcomers Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi 21-13, 13-21, 21-10 and will meet South Korea's Jin Yong-Na Sung Seung next.
Wei Chong-Kai Wun stayed on course to reach their second consecutive final after claiming a 21-15, 21-19 win over compatriots Choong Hon Jian-Haikal Nazri.
Up next for them are Ren Xiang Yu-He Ji Ting, the pair who scored a winning point against Malaysia during the Thomas Cup semifinals earlier this month.
Sze Fei-Izzuddin were in great form as they strolled past Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teetaratsakul 21-17, 21-12 to set up their next clash with second seeds Ander Skaarup Rasmussen-Kim Astrup of Denmark.
