Championship Sunday at the MB Hanoi Cup 2026 delivered everything a final day should. Five finals. Five gold medals. And enough drama to last the rest of the season.
Kaitlyn Christian Refuses to Lose
The Women’s Singles final will be remembered for a long time.
Kaitlyn Christian was staring down a straight-games defeat. A game down and trailing 2–8 in the second, Brooke Buckner was in full control on her PPA Tour Asia debut and looked every bit a champion-in-waiting. Then Christian found another gear.
Eight straight points pulled her back to 10–8. Buckner steadied, closed the gap, and earned match points at 11–10 and 12–11. Christian saved both, then took the game 14–12 to force a deciding third.
The third looked like it might be the end. Buckner raced to a 9–4 lead, and the comeback appeared to have taken everything out of the No. 2 seed. Then came the shot — a stretch forehand, a scoop off the ground, an angle that had no right to exist. Christian roared, fist pump in the air, and did not drop another point. Seven straight to close 11–9 and claim her second PPA Tour Asia singles title after the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025.
Final scoreline: 7–11, 14–12, 11–9. One for the comeback classics.
Hoang Nam Ly Makes It Back-to-Back
The home crowd got their moment, and Hoang Nam Ly made sure of it.
Ly defeated compatriot Hien Truong 11–5, 11–6 in an all-Vietnamese Men’s Singles final, controlling proceedings from start to finish to claim back-to-back Men’s Singles gold on PPA Tour Asia following his title at the Vibrant Linping Hangzhou Open 2025. No drama needed. Just dominance.
For Truong, the wait for a first singles title continues. He made the MB Vietnam Cup 2025 final, knocked out No. 1 seed Federico Staksrud in the semifinals this week, and is clearly closing the gap. That elusive first title is coming.
The Streak Holds
Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright have won 18 Women’s Doubles gold medals together. They have never lost a final. Hanoi was never going to change that.
The world’s top two players defeated Tyra Black and Catherine Parenteau 11–7, 11–5 to extend a streak that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
Ben Johns Finally Gets His Doubles Gold
The Men’s Doubles final had everything. Johns and Tardio opened with a 11–0 first-game pickle that looked like a blowout. Staksrud and Patriquin — who beat this same pair at the 2025 Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships — had other ideas. Patriquin’s flair and Staksrud’s fight brought the crowd to life as they took the second 11–7. Johns and Tardio regrouped and closed it out 11–6 in the third.
Johns came to Asia twice in 2025 and left each time without Men’s Doubles gold — a silver and a bronze to show for it. Third time’s a charm. He finally has it.
Mixed Doubles Goes to Form
Waters and Johns completed their double gold day by taking the Mixed Doubles title, defeating Kaitlyn Christian and Christian Alshon 11–5, 11–2. It was Christian and Alshon’s second Mixed Doubles silver in Asia, having also made the final at the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025.
For Waters, two golds on her very first PPA Tour Asia appearance. For Johns, Hanoi was the week it all came together — after a silver and bronze in Men’s Doubles and a Mixed Doubles gold across his 2025 appearances, he leaves Vietnam with the complete set.
Up Next
PPA Tour Asia heads to Kuala Lumpur for the Panas Kuala Lumpur Open 2026, a PPA Asia 500 event set for May 13–17 at 9Pickle in Malaysia.
