DENNEHY DÉJÀ VU: AUSSIE BACK IN THREE SEMIS
| September 11, 2026
Sahra Dennehy has been here before. The Australian will wake up on semifinal Saturday at the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026 alive in all three of her events, a triple crown once again within reach after she came agonizingly close to the feat earlier this season.
Dennehy booked her Women’s Singles semifinal with an 11-4, 11-0 dismantling of Lacy Schneemann, and she is through in both doubles draws too, into the Women’s Doubles semifinals with Danni-Elle Townsend and the Mixed Doubles semifinals with Len Yang. Her Saturday is loaded. She opens against top seed Kaitlyn Christian in the Women’s Singles, teams with Townsend in the Women’s Doubles, and then, in a spicy twist, lines up against that same Townsend in the Mixed Doubles semifinal. Partner in one draw, opponent in another.
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She is not the only one carrying a multi-event load. Noe Khlif continued his sensational Malaysia debut, reaching the semifinals in both the Men’s Singles and the Men’s Doubles. The MLP champion defeated Luc Pham 11-9, 11-8 to advance in singles, where a meeting with marathon man Harrison Brown awaits. Brown has put together the journey of a week, notching up three full-distance wins before defeating Nasa Hatakeyama in straight games to reach the final four. Khlif also remains alongside Gabriel Tardio in the doubles, keeping alive Tardio’s bid for two titles.
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Tama Shimabukuro is the other man in two semifinals. The 15-year-old ended home hope Jimmy Liong Kai Long‘s run 12-10, 11-4 in front of the Kuala Lumpur crowd to reach the Men’s Singles semifinals, where a familiar face awaits. Shimabukuro beat Hong Kit Wong 11-9, 11-9 to win the Men’s Singles title at the Macao Open in May, and the pair meet again here with a place in the final on the line. Shimabukuro is also through in the Men’s Doubles with Yuta Funemizu.
There was disappointment for one familiar pairing. #4 seeds Eunggwon Kim and Hong Kit Wong saw their Men’s Doubles gold hunt end yet again, beaten in the quarterfinals by Clayton Powell and Armaan Bhatia, who now face Tardio and Khlif in the semifinals.
Semifinal action gets underway Saturday, September 12 at 9:00 AM (GMT+8), with the Women’s Singles semifinals first up.
