KUALA LUMPUR: Men's doubles Wan Arif Junaidi-Yap Roy King are on the cusp of winning their maiden World Tour title after reaching the Spain Masters final in Madrid on Saturday.
Playing in only their second tournament this year after a lengthy layoff, the world No. 65 stunned France's world No. 45 Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov 21-17, 21-17 in the semi-finals at Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur.
Arif-Roy King will take on world No. 35 Sabar Karyaman Gutama-Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia for the crown.
Arif told Timesport that he and Roy King had done their homework after crashing out in the second round of the Swiss Open last week.
"It wasn't easy to get back in form after a long layoff (three months), but I'm glad my partner has recovered from his injury.
"At the Swiss Open last week, our rotation was all over the place.
"We watched videos to study what went wrong, and that helped us here.
"One more match to go, we will go all out," said Arif.
In their first season together as a pair last year, Arif-Roy King won the Nantes International Challenge in June and were crowned national champions a month later at Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara.