DOUBLE TROUBLE ON CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY
| September 12, 2026
Four players will walk onto Championship Court at the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026 with two shots at gold, after a semifinal Saturday that set up a stacked finals day.
Leading the way is Noe Khlif, who has made an instant mark on his first appearance in Asia. The newly crowned MLP champion in the USA has reached the finals of both the Men’s Singles and the Men’s Doubles at the first time of asking on the continent. He defeated Harrison Brown 11-7, 11-0 to book his singles spot, and lines up alongside Gabriel Tardio in the doubles.
In the singles final Khlif meets 15-year-old Tama Shimabukuro, who is chasing a second Asia singles crown to go with the Men’s Singles title he won at the Macao Open in May. Shimabukuro reached the final by beating Hong Kit Wong 11-7, 11-8, the same opponent he defeated for that Macao gold.
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Tardio is chasing two of his own. The World No.2 is into the Men’s Doubles final with Khlif and the Mixed Doubles final with Jessie Irvine, keeping his bid for a double alive on his first trip to Malaysia. Khlif and Tardio face Augustus Ge and Len Yang for the Men’s Doubles crown.
The women’s draws set up a double date between Jessie Irvine and Danni-Elle Townsend. The pair are on opposite sides of the net in both the Women’s Doubles and the Mixed Doubles finals. Irvine partners Alix Truong against Townsend and Sahra Dennehy in the Women’s Doubles, then teams with Tardio against Townsend and Joey Wild in the Mixed.
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Meanwhile, there was no fairytale triple crown for Dennehy. The Australian, alive in all three events heading into Saturday, lost her Women’s Singles semifinal to top seed Kaitlyn Christian and her Mixed Doubles semifinal, but battled through in the Women’s Doubles to keep one shot at gold alive.
In the Women’s Singles final, top seed Kaitlyn Christian meets Brooke Buckner in a rematch of the MB Hanoi Cup final earlier this year. That first meeting was an epic: Christian saved match points in the second game, then hauled herself back from 9-4 down in the third to reel off seven straight points and win 7-11, 14-12, 11-9. Christian arrives with a strong record on Malaysian soil too, having won the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 title.
Championship Sunday action gets under way Sunday, September 13 at 13:00 (GMT+8).
