RIVALS, DEBUTANTS AND DANGER IN MALAYSIA
| September 8, 2026
The draws are out for the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026, and the paths to Championship Sunday are set. Here are the storylines and matchups to watch as the PPA Asia 1000 stop gets under way.
Rivals turned partners lead a loaded Men’s Doubles draw
Gabriel Tardio and Noe Khlif top the Men’s Doubles seeds just weeks after facing off at the Major League Pickleball finals in New York. The world No.2 and the MLP champion are a team now, and the draw points them toward a heavyweight run. Their projected semifinal is against #4 Eunggwon Kim and Hong Kit Wong, the pair still chasing a first gold together after a season of near misses, who will fancy a top-seed scalp to get there. Waiting on the other side are #2 Augustus Ge and Len Yang, with #3 Tama Shimabukuro and Yuta Funemizu also lurking in that half. Four big contenders, only one trophy.
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Two hot hands on a collision course in the Men’s Singles
Noe Khlif does not stop at doubles. He is the #4 seed in Men’s Singles on his Asia debut, and the draw has handed him a test straight away, with a projected quarterfinal against #5 Luc Pham. Pham has been one of the form players on the circuit, a finalist at the MB Ho Chi Minh City Open and a semifinalist in Shenzhen across his last two stops. Elsewhere, top seed Zane Ford headlines a half that also features Eunggwon Kim and #8 Harrison Brown, while three-time champion Hong Kit Wong anchors the opposite end with #3 Tama Shimabukuro and #6 Kenta Miyoshi in his path.
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Danger everywhere in the Women’s Singles
Kaitlyn Christian takes the top seed with real Malaysian pedigree, having won gold at the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025, but her quarter is no gimme. Anni Xie, a Shenzhen Women’s Singles finalist only weeks ago, lurks in that section and would need to get past #5 Judit Castillo to earn a shot at the top seed. The bottom half is stacked just as deep. #3 Chao Yi Wang, fresh off her Shenzhen title, #6 Yufei Long and #8 Rika Fujiwara all sit on that side, with #2 Brooke Buckner anchoring it. Christian and Buckner are the projected finalists, a potential rematch of their MB Hanoi Cup final earlier this year, but plenty stands in the way of both.
Tardio and Christian go for two
The Cup’s biggest names are chasing gold across more than one event. Tardio adds the #1 Mixed Doubles seed with Jessie Irvine to his Men’s Doubles billing, two top seedings on his first trip to Malaysia. Christian is in the thick of it too, seeded in the Women’s Doubles at #4 with Allyce Jones, who has an Asian title to her name, and in the Mixed Doubles at #3 with Eunggwon Kim, who has three Mixed Doubles finals appearances. Three events and three chances at silverware for Christian.
The Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026 runs September 9-13 at The Hood in Kuala Lumpur. Get tickets now.
