KUALA LUMPUR: Local shuttlers could only watch in envy as Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran and Japan's Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto "came, saw and conquered" at the Malaysia Open.
Dechapol-Supissara sensationally captured the mixed doubles crown while Yuki-Mayu lifted the women's doubles title at the Axiata Arena today.
Remarkably, they came as newly formed pairs and made off with the prestigious Super 1000 title from the backyard of Malaysian shuttlers.
Dechapol-Supissara's feat was astounding. Not even China's world No. 1 Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping could stand in their way as the Thais carved out a 21-13, 19-21, 21-18 victory in the final.
Dechapol-Supissara were competing in just their sixth tournament together since October, and they made history as the first Thai pair to win the mixed doubles title since the Malaysia Open's inception in 1937.
Dechapol, who finished second in the Malaysia Open in 2022 with former partner Sapsiree Taerattanachai, said: "We're really happy that we achieved this. Before the match, we just told ourselves that we needed to fight and give our best because we were up against a very strong pair.
"It's not easy to win a Super 1000 title, even with Por Por (Sapsiree). Credit to Supissara, she played so well today."
Supissara claimed three World Tour titles in just four months with Dechapol. With previous partner, Supak Jomkoh, she never tasted success on the World Tour.
"We certainly didn't expect this achievement. In fact, we tried not to think about winning, focusing instead on performing well and enjoying ourselves on the court. This week, I think both of us did just that.
"I think being the underdogs worked in our favour. Today, our opponents were the ones under a lot of pressure," said Supissara.
Earlier in the day, Matsumoto-Fukushima defeated China's Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian — who were competing together for the first time — 17-21, 21-15, 21-15 in the women's doubles final.
It was only Matsumoto-Fukushima's third tournament since teaming up in November last year. For Fukushima, this marked her second Malaysia Open triumph, having previously won here with Sayaka Hirota in 2017.