George Patrick Mendoza spent the opening day of the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026 playing his way into two main draws. The Filipino came through qualifying in Men's Singles and Men's Doubles on the same day, continuing the form that took him to the main-draw quarterfinals at the Leapmotor Singapore Open in July.
In singles he beat Daniel Soderman 11-1, 11-1 and went through the next round when Alexander Elfimov withdrew. In doubles he and Christopher Encarnacion needed three games to get past Nik Alessandro Isagan and Leander Lazaro, 11-8, 10-12, 11-3.
His reward was two difficult first assignments: Harrison Brown in the Men's Singles, and eighth seeds Luc Pham and George Wall in the Men's Doubles round of 32.
Tang comes through two draws
Nok Yiu Tang put in a similar shift. The UPA Asia Trailblazer came through both the Women's Doubles qualifying draw, with Yufei Long, and the Mixed Doubles qualifying draw, with Robert Stirling; both semifinals were canceled and both pairs went into the main draw.
A Brazilian pair make their Asia debut count
Stirling's own doubles campaign ran into the story of the day. Hugo Dojas and Caio Silva, playing their first event in Asia, beat Will Hsieh and Samuel Dickson 11-2, 11-8 and then knocked out Stirling and Prycen Haas 11-6, 11-6 to reach the main draw, where AJ Koller and Quan Do were waiting.
Who came through
The players below won the final round played in each Pro qualifying event.
Event | Qualified for the main draw |
|---|---|
Men's Singles | Christopher Encarnacion (SGP); Er Yang Khoo (MAS); George Patrick Mendoza (PHI); Jose Maria Pague (PHI); Kwok Cheong (MAS); Masashi Watanabe (JPN); Samuel Dickson (USA); Xiang Cai (CHN) |
Women's Singles | Agnimitra Bhattacharya (IND); Ooi Kah Yan (MAS); Virvienica Isearis Bejosano (PHI); Yunqi He (CHN) |
Men's Doubles | George Patrick Mendoza (PHI) / Christopher Encarnacion (SGP); Hugo Dojas (BRA) / Caio Eduardo Garcia Silva (BRA); Jose Maria Pague (PHI) / Muhammad Aiman (MAS); Yaxuann Miao (CHN) / Xiang Cai (CHN) |
Women's Doubles | Kwan Wun Man (HKG) / Yu-Chieh Hsieh (TPE); Nok Yiu Tang (HKG) / Yufei Long (CHN); Pei-Yu Lai (TPE) / Sarah Jane Lim (PHI); Seina Shima (JPN) / Mayu Ito (JPN) |
Mixed Doubles | Kwan Wun Man (HKG) / Syed Uzair Sufi (MAS); Mayu Ito (JPN) / Julian Chow (HKG); Nok Yiu Tang (HKG) / Robert Stirling (AUS); Pei-Yu Lai (TPE) / Timothy Foo (MAS) |
More from the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup
Results verified against the official bracket on pickleballtournaments.com and the PPA Tour Asia tournament page. Photographs: PPA Tour Asia.