Japan Open: Sze Fei-Izzuddin storm into final to join Pearly-Thinaah

Malaysia's top men's pair Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin flexed their superiority to storm into the Japan Open final and join Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah.

The defending champions and top seeds turned in a commanding performance to beat Chinese Taipei pair Yang Po-han-Liu Kuang-heng 21-19, 21- to set-up a mouthwatering men's doubles showdown against South Korean pair Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho on Sunday.

It is set to be a tasty final, especially with the fact that Seo-Kim are set to snatch the world ranking top spot from the Malaysians, regardless of Sunday's result.

But on the back of this performance, Goh-Izzuddin will be confident of defending their title in Tokyo.

Against Yang-Liu, the top seeds took their time to find their groove in the opening game.

After Izzuddin produced some magic to deliver an outstanding point which gave them the lead, there was going to be only one winner.

Goh-Izzuddin smashed their way into a one-sided second game to book their second final of the season.

In the earlier match, national women's doubles pair Tan-Thinaah booked their fourth World Tour final after they stunned Japanese rivals Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 21-13-, 21-11 on home turf.

Tan-Thinaah's excellent performance saw them beat their opponents for only the second time in 15 meetings.

The Malaysians will next face Chinese top seeds Liu Sheng Shiu-Tan Ning as they hunt a second silverware since winning the Thailand Open in May.