Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani have come a long way since leaving the Indonesian national team in early 2022.

Their straightforward 21-13 21-17 semifinal win over newly-paired compatriots Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana at LI-NING Hong Kong Open 2024 today sent them into their third final of the season, after podium finishes in March at Spain (winners) and Orleans Masters (runners-up).

Their maiden Super 500 title match also means Indonesia will have a men’s doubles finalists for the fifth consecutive edition at the tournament.

Gutama shared post-match: “It means a lot to us. Being independent players isn’t easy, so we are grateful we’ve been able to play consistently at a high level and keep improving. Hopefully we can put the icing on the cake by winning our first Super 500 event.”

Isfahani said losing to the same opponents at the Japan Open last month taught them valuable lessons.

“The good thing is we learned from that defeat, we watched their opening serves and prepared better this time,” said the recently-married 26-year-old. “Our confidence also grew after beating the Daddies in the opening round.”

Gutama added: “We were more aggressive and were in control at the front and back court. It’s a windy hall so we tried being offensive from start to finish and thankfully it worked for us.”

The duo have been together since 2020 and their best result prior to going independent was a second place finish at the 2021 Spain Masters. They’ve also shot up the world rankings in the last two years, from 106th to a career-high 21st two weeks ago.