It was a year ago that Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja got together as a pair.

Ranked outside the top 100 last September, the Indonesian mixed doubles pair had a steady upward climb, hitting a purple patch between June and October, when they won four tournaments in a row.

Although that was at the International Challenge/International Series/Super 100 level, the confidence gained did play a part in their performances subsequently on the HSBC BWF World Tour.

Having finished 2022 by making the semifinals of the Australian Open, they started 2023 on a sound footing, making the last four of the Malaysia Open. These results propelled them to a career-high top 15, making them Indonesia’s third-highest ranked pair.

“It’s a good start,” says Widjaja. “Our partnership started a year ago, at the All England. We won four titles and made the semis in Australia, and at the Malaysia Open also we made the semifinals. I hope we can be better this year. I hope we can make the top 10 and then the top 5.”

Ferdianansyah and Widjaja were with different partners before 2022. While Widjaja had some success with Hafiz Faisal – they were ranked as high as No.6 in July 2019, Ferdinansyah had stints with Serena Kami and Mahadewi Istirani Ni Ketut.

“I don’t know how we improved our partnership so quicky,” laughed Widjaja. “Compared with Hafiz, Dejan is younger, and has power and skill. Hafiz too has his pluses and minuses.”

With the European leg of a busy season coming up, Widjaja was hopeful of improved performances.

“We try to keep our consistency in every match, and have good communication with each other and the coach. We will try our best in every match; we want to win more titles this year.”

The Indonesians take on Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing in the first round of next week’s YONEX German Open.