KUALA LUMPUR: Japanese men's doubles Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi are doing 1-2 world knockout.
Last week, they kayoed Indonesian world No 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the Indonesia Masters final.
And today, they toppled world No 2 and local favourites Muhammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 23-21, 15-21, 21-15 in the Indonesia Open first round.
The world No 7, who train under Malaysian Tan Kim Her, also won the Denmark Open last month.
Hoki-Kobayashi, who became Japan's No 1 following the retirement of Hiroyuki Endo, Keigo Sonoda and Takeshi Kamura in September, will play the winners of the first round match between England's Ben Lane-Sean Vendy and Indonesia's Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan tomorrow.
"We are playing with a lot of confidence, but we are also very focused on one match at a time," Hoki told the Badminton World Federation.
"We want to take things one step at a time. Today we defeated a very good Indonesian pair, who are the world No 2. Of course, we see it as a great boost for us in this tournament."