Anna Bright came to Malaysia with 19 Women's Doubles golds and the No. 2 PPA Tour ranking. On Friday her Women's Doubles run ended in the quarterfinals, one of several shake-ups that set up a loaded semifinal Saturday.
Friday's results
Danni-Elle Townsend and Nicola Schoeman (AUS) pulled off the upset of the tournament, beating top seeds Bright (USA) and Roos van Reek (NED) 11-6, 11-3. Ben Johns and Christian Alshon (USA) survived a scare against Vanshik Kapadia (IND) and Robert Nunnery (USA), losing the first game before winning 9-11, 11-1, 11-4.
Kaitlyn Christian (USA) won every quarterfinal in straight games and is unbeaten across all three of her events. Hong Kit Wong (HKG) finally ended his losing run against Phuc Huynh (VIE), coming from a game down to win 2-11, 11-7, 11-8 after Huynh had beaten him in Vietnam and Fukuoka. Mixed Doubles qualifiers Sahra Dennehy (AUS) and Santhosh Narayanan (USA) eliminated third seeds Tyson McGuffin (USA) and Chao Yi Wang (TPE) 11-9, 11-2.
The last Malaysian interest ended in the Men's Doubles quarterfinals, where Eunggwon Kim (KOR) and Wong beat Leander Lazaro (PHI) and Jimmy Liong (MAS) 11-3, 11-8.
Event | Round | Winner | Defeated | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Men's Singles | Quarterfinals | Hong Kit Wong (HKG) | Phuc Huynh (VIE) | 2-11, 11-7, 11-8 |
Men's Singles | Quarterfinals | Hien Truong (VIE) | Marco Leung (MAC) | 11-3, 11-3 |
Men's Singles | Quarterfinals | Christian Alshon (USA) | Mitchell Hargreaves (AUS) | 11-4, 11-1 |
Men's Singles | Quarterfinals | Hoang Nam Ly (VIE) | Giang Trinh (VIE) | 11-3, 8-11, 11-5 |
Women's Singles | Quarterfinals | Chao Yi Wang (TPE) | Nicola Schoeman (AUS) | 11-7, 11-5 |
Women's Singles | Quarterfinals | Kaitlyn Christian (USA) | Ting Chieh Wei (TPE) | 11-4, 11-1 |
Women's Singles | Quarterfinals | Andie Dikosavljevic (AUS) | Albie Huang (TPE) | 11-4, 9-11, 11-3 |
Women's Singles | Quarterfinals | Roos van Reek (NED) | Sahra Dennehy (AUS) | 11-6, 11-7 |
Men's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Eunggwon Kim (KOR) / Hong Kit Wong (HKG) | Leander Lazaro (PHI) / Jimmy Liong Kai Long (MAS) | 11-3, 11-8 |
Men's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Zane Navratil (USA) / Armaan Bhatia (IND) | Thomas Yu (CHN) / Len Yang (USA) | 11-8, 4-11, 11-2 |
Men's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Eric Oncins (BRA) / Tyson McGuffin (USA) | Naveen Beasley (USA) / Harsh Mehta (IND) | 11-4, 11-8 |
Men's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Ben Johns (USA) / Christian Alshon (USA) | Vanshik Kapadia (IND) / Robert Nunnery (USA) | 9-11, 11-1, 11-4 |
Women's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Chao Yi Wang (TPE) / Kaitlyn Christian (USA) | Selina Turulja (AUS) / Andie Dikosavljevic (AUS) | 11-2, 11-7 |
Women's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Aiko Yoshitomi (JPN) / Sahra Dennehy (AUS) | Ting Chieh Wei (TPE) / Alix Truong (USA) | 4-11, 11-5, 11-7 |
Women's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Yu-Chieh Hsieh (TPE) / Liz Truluck (USA) | Hannah Blatt (CAN) / Pei-Chuan Kao (TPE) | 11-6, 11-2 |
Women's Doubles | Quarterfinals | Nicola Schoeman (AUS) / Danni-Elle Townsend (AUS) | Roos van Reek (NED) / Anna Bright (USA) | 11-6, 11-3 |
Mixed Doubles | Quarterfinals | Alix Truong (USA) / Jonathan Truong (USA) | Yu-Chieh Hsieh (TPE) / Thomas Yu (CHN) | 6-11, 11-6, 11-5 |
Mixed Doubles | Quarterfinals | Kaitlyn Christian (USA) / Christian Alshon (USA) | Yufei Long (CHN) / Hoang Nam Ly (VIE) | 11-7, 11-0 |
Mixed Doubles | Quarterfinals | Sahra Dennehy (AUS) / Santhosh Narayanan (USA) | Chao Yi Wang (TPE) / Tyson McGuffin (USA) | 11-9, 11-2 |
Mixed Doubles | Quarterfinals | Anna Bright (USA) / Ben Johns (USA) | Liz Truluck (USA) / Armaan Bhatia (IND) | 11-4, 11-4 |
What it means
Both Kaitlyn Christian and Christian Alshon are through to the semifinals in all three of their events, so two triple crowns are still possible in Selangor. Townsend and Schoeman reach a third straight PPA Tour Asia semifinal as a pair and face Liz Truluck (USA) and Yu-Chieh Hsieh (TPE) for a place in the final. On the other side, Dennehy and Aiko Yoshitomi (JPN) reach their first Asia semifinal together, Yoshitomi having gone out in the quarterfinals in three of her four previous appearances; they face Wang and Christian. In Mixed Doubles, Dennehy and Narayanan are the only unseeded pair left and play Alshon and Christian.
Saturday order of play
Semifinals across all five events start at 8am, all on Championship Court.
Event | Round | Semifinal |
|---|---|---|
Men's Singles | Semifinals | Hong Kit Wong (HKG) vs Hien Truong (VIE) |
Men's Singles | Semifinals | Christian Alshon (USA) vs Hoang Nam Ly (VIE) |
Women's Singles | Semifinals | Kaitlyn Christian (USA) vs Andie Dikosavljevic (AUS) |
Women's Singles | Semifinals | Chao Yi Wang (TPE) vs Roos van Reek (NED) |
Men's Doubles | Semifinals | Ben Johns (USA) / Christian Alshon (USA) vs Zane Navratil (USA) / Armaan Bhatia (IND) |
Men's Doubles | Semifinals | Eunggwon Kim (KOR) / Hong Kit Wong (HKG) vs Eric Oncins (BRA) / Tyson McGuffin (USA) |
Women's Doubles | Semifinals | Yu-Chieh Hsieh (TPE) / Liz Truluck (USA) vs Nicola Schoeman (AUS) / Danni-Elle Townsend (AUS) |
Women's Doubles | Semifinals | Chao Yi Wang (TPE) / Kaitlyn Christian (USA) vs Aiko Yoshitomi (JPN) / Sahra Dennehy (AUS) |
Mixed Doubles | Semifinals | Kaitlyn Christian (USA) / Christian Alshon (USA) vs Sahra Dennehy (AUS) / Santhosh Narayanan (USA) |
Mixed Doubles | Semifinals | Anna Bright (USA) / Ben Johns (USA) vs Alix Truong (USA) / Jonathan Truong (USA) |
Next on the tour
Championship Sunday closes the Cup before the tour heads to Da Nang for the MB Vietnam Cup, September 30 to October 4. Schedules are on events.thepicklebase.com.