Indonesian men's doubles pair Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri changed their game strategy to eliminate English pair Ben Lane/Sean Vendy in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Tour Super 750 Japan Open 2026 in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday.
The second seed secured a semifinal ticket after winning two straight games with a score of 22-20, 21-13.
Fajar said they had made a mistake in implementing their playing pattern at the start of the first game, making it difficult for them to keep up with Lane/Vendy's speed.
"It was quite surprising how fast they were, they played long and hard. We used the wrong strategy at the start of the first game. Yesterday, against the Taiwanese pair, we used a simple pattern, but today was different. We had to play aggressively and with fast balls," Fajar said in an official PBSI statement after the match.
