Indonesia’s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo only needed 35 minutes to silence Japan’s Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda to defend their Hong Kong Open men’s doubles title on Sunday.

The world number-one pair was too powerful for the Japanese shuttlers, who are ranked third in the world, crushing them 21-13, 21-12 in a quick execution.

It is the second Hong Kong Open title for the Indonesians, who were also unbeatable in last year’s edition.

The Indonesians were ruthless in pressing the Japanese, blocking every possible room for the opponents to grow their offense. Marcus and Kevin remained focused on maintaining their tempo, winning every point to leave the Japanese pair far behind.

“We were also quite surprised to know that we were able to tune in from the beginning of the match. It was actually unusual, because fighting against them is traditionally a lot harder,” said Marcus in a statement.

Nevertheless, Kevin said he refused to say that the match was easy.

“We were ready, so we made very few unforced errors.”

The win added to the Indonesians’ 7-4 lead in the head-to-head.

With the latest title, Marcus and Kevin have collected eight victories so far in this year’s Badminton World Federation (BWF) top-tier tournaments. The triumphs include the China Open last week and the Denmark Open last month.

This year’s achievement has exceeded the pair’s milestone of winning seven titles in 2017.

In total, Marcus and Kevin have won 18 top-tier titles since 2016.

From other categories, world number five Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino stunned world number two Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping 21-18, 21-14 to bring home the mixed doubles title. It was the first Hong Kong Open title for the champions.

In the men’s singles category, world number six Son Wan Ho of South Korea defeated world number 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 14-21, 21-17, 21-13 in a one hour and 29 minute battle to win the title. It was Son’s first title victory in two years.

Son, who stunned Japanese world number one Kento Momota in the semifinals, yielded 12 points in a row in the first game before finding his form after the first break to win in 89 minutes.

He has now won five of the pair’s seven encounters this year for his first tournament victory since his December 2016 home-ground win.

“I feel very happy [...] In the second game, I felt my opponent was very tired, so I needed to work then to get through the tough part [of the match],” Son said as quoted by AFP.

Japanese world number six Nozomi Okuhara outclassed former number one Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-19, 24-22 to claim the women’s singles title.

Okuhara said her victory over the determined Thai was a massive confidence boost ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Both players were hungry for the win, drawing level 13 times in the second game before the sixth-ranked Okuhara beat Ratchanok.

“This match is very important for me,” she said, adding she would spend the next year working to secure her place at next year’s Olympics alongside world number two Akane Yamaguchi, who Ratchanok beat in three games in the quarterfinals.

Lastly, top pair Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan nailed the women’s doubles title after outwitting seventh seeds Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan of South Korea 21-18, 21-17.

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