Christian Alshon Marches Closer to Triple Crown but Ben Johns, Anna Bright Stand in His Way
Christian Alshon, one of the PPA Tour pros who came to conquer the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025, has a chance to achieve an impressive Triple Crown in his PPA Tour Asia foray as he punched tickets to the Finals of Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
However, standing in his way will be compatriot Ben Johns, who himself is trending towards a brace in the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 after making it through to the gold-medal match in Men’s Doubles (with Alshon, ironically) and Mixed Doubles (with Anna Bright).
Jack Wong Hong-kit, Christian Alshon Arrange Final Clash
While Alshon could be in line for a treble, he might also go home empty-handed as he is expected to face stiff competition in every Final he’ll play on Sunday. Of note in these gold-medal showdowns will be the one Alshon will have opposite Hong Kong’s Jack Wong Hong-kit, who is currently no. 1 in the PPA Tour Asia Rankings after three podium finishes—a gold in the Hong Kong Open 2025 and bronze each in the Sansan Fukuoka Open and Panas Malaysia Cup Open.
Alshon made it to the Men’s Singles Final by beating Vietnam’s Hoang Nam Ly, 2-0 (11-7, 11-7) in their Semis bracket. Hong-kit, on the other hand, made it to the gold-medal showdown by disposing of Vietnam’s Hien Truong, 2-0 (11-6, 11-4).
Australia vs. America Finals in Women’s Singles
On the distaff side, the US’ Kaitlyn Christian and Australia’s Ross Van Reek will dispute gold in the Women’s Singles of the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025.
Christian booked a Final ticket by outlasting Australian bet Andie Dikosavljevic, 2-1 (11-4, 2-11, 11-4), in a see-saw battle full of twists, turns, and crazy momentum shifts. Van Reek, meanwhile, blanked Taiwan’s Chao Yi Wang, 2-0 (11-7, 11-4), to make it to the Final.
Doubles Action Recap
After facing adversity in each of their first two matches, the pair of Johns and Alshon finally played true to form, sweeping the duo of Zane Navratil and Armaan Bhatia, 2-0 (11-6, 11-2) to make it to the Final, just as many predicted they would. They’ll face the pairing of Tyson McGuffin, another PPA Tour superstar, and Eric Oncins, who bested the twosome of Hong-kit and Kim Eunggwon, 2-0 (11-9, 11-8).
On the women’s side of things, Team Australia made up of Nicola Schoeman and Danni-Elle Townsend will take on Wang and Christian for Women’s Doubles supremacy. The Australian pair made it to the Finals by beating the duo of Yu-chieh Hsieh and Luz Truluck, 2-0 (11-4, 11-6). Wang and Christian, meanwhile, escaped the pair of Aiko Yoshitomi and Sahra Dennehy, 2-1 (8-11, 11-1, 11-6), with a riveting comeback.
Finally, the powerhouse tandem of Johns and Anna Bright will take on the equally talented duo of Christian and Alshon for the gold in Mixed Doubles. Johns and Bright continued to be perfect in Malaysia, dispatching Alix Truong and Jonathan Truong, 2-0 (11-8, 11-5), for their third straight sweep in the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025. Christian and Alshon also blanked the pair of Dennehy and Santosh Narayanan, 2-0 (11-5, 11-5), to march to the Final with three consecutive sweeps.
