A men's doubles specialist, Heryanto and fellow countrymen Hariamanto Kartono formed one of the world's leading teams between 1980 and 1985. As upstarts they earned silver medals at the 1980 IBF World Championships in Jakarta, losing the final to veteran Indonesian teammates Ade Chandra and Christian Hadinata. At the 1981 All-England Championships they avenged that loss in the semifinal and went on to defeat another venerable Indonesian pair, Tjun Tjun and Johan Wahjudi in the final. They won the All-Englands again in 1984 and the Indonesia Open in 1982 and 1983. In the momentous Thomas Cup series of 1982 (China's debut) they split their matches against China in Indonesia's narrow 4—5 final round loss. After the partnership broke up, Heryanto won the Thailand Open with Bobby Ertanto in 1985.