Panas Kuala Lumpur Open 2026: Mihae Kwon Stuns Yufei Long, Hien Truong Stays Course for Double Crown
Mihae Kwon had hit the same wall three times. Round of 16, round of 16, round of 16. Always a quarterfinal away from breaking through. Never quite getting there.
On Day 3 of the Panas Kuala Lumpur Open 2026, she broke through—and she did it against the best.
Kwon took down three-time champion and No. 2 seed Yufei Long 8-11, 11-8, 11-9 in the quarterfinals, ending the most decorated singles player on the PPA Tour Asia circuit’s title defence in three games. Long had five Women’s Singles medals from the inaugural season alone—three golds. Kwon had none. Her previous best was that recurring round of 16 exit: a three-game loss to Ting Chieh Wei at the Panas Malaysia Open, a straight-sets defeat to Yu-chieh Hsieh at the Hong Kong Open, a straight-games exit to Kaitlyn Christian at the Panas Malaysia Cup.
Always the round of 16. Never further.
Until today.
Long controlled the opener 11-8, looking composed and in command. But something shifted in game two. Kwon found another gear—upping the pace on her attacks, out-powering Long at the baseline to level the match 11-8. By the decider, it came down to who had legs left. Kwon did. Her compact, balanced movement gave her the extra fuel to hold on 11-9 and send the Chinese star home.
What makes the result richer is the history between them. At the Panas Malaysia Open 2025, Kwon and Long were doubles partners—and good ones, finishing with the silver medal. Less than a year later, Kwon knocked her former partner out of the singles draw.
Waiting in the semifinals is qualifier Pei-Chuan Kao. The bottom half of the bracket is wide open. The fairytale has room to run.
Nasa Hatakeyama can’t be stopped
On the men’s side, Nasa Hatakeyama just keeps going.
The Japanese qualifier dispatched No. 7 seed Zane Navratil 11-8, 11-7 in the Men’s Singles quarterfinals. Straight games. No drama. It was the cleanest match of his run—which is saying something, given what the run already looks like: through qualifying on Day 1, past No. 2 seed Hong Kit Wong in three on Day 2, and now another seed added to his résumé on Day 3.
Standing between Hatakeyama and the final is American teenager Wil Shaffer, who has made his own unseeded run to the semis. Neither man has a seed. Both are one win from the final.
Hien Truong rolls Through on Double Duty
No. 1 seed Hien Truong had a day to remember—and made it look effortless.
In Men’s Singles, he beat Mitchell Hargreaves 11-6, 11-7. In Men’s Doubles, he and Quang Do dispatched George Wall and Joseph Wild 11-6, 11-6. Two matches. Four games. Zero dropped.
Truong still hasn’t won a Men’s Singles gold in Asia—two silvers and a bronze is the return so far, the top step always close but never his. A double crown in Kuala Lumpur would change all of that. He remains alive in both draws.
