Panas Malaysia Cup 2025: Anna Bright Gets Boot in Women’s Doubles as Ben Johns, Christian Alshon Sweat It Out Again
The story of Day 2 of the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 was highly touted Anna Bright getting the boot in Women’s Doubles. Paired with Australia’s top pro, Roos Van Reek, Bright appeared headed for a brace in Malaysia as she is also playing alongside the GOAT Ben Johns in Mixed Doubles.
But that won’t be the case now after Bright and Van Reek lost in the Quarterfinals, losing to the Australian pair of Dannie Elle-Townsend and Nicola Schoeman—fourth and sixth in PPA Tour Australia—2-0 (11-6, 11-3). Townsend and Schoeman proved to be a handful right from the get-go, dictating the action and just outplaying Bright and Van Reek in every way imaginable.
The Australian power pair will next meet the duo of Yu-Chieh Hsieh and Luz Truluck, who advanced to the Semis with an equally dominant 2-0 (11-6, 11-2) romp over Hannah Blatt and Pei-chuan Kao. The other Semis bracket will see the pair of Aiko Yoshitomi and Sahra Dennehy going up against the duo of Kaitlyn Christian and Chao Yi Wang.
Anna Bright Gets Reprieve at Mixed Doubles
Despite crashing out in Women’s Doubles, Bright will continue playing in the Panas Malaysia Cup 2025 as she and partner Ben Johns booked a Semis seat by beating the twosome of Truluck and Armaan Bhatia, 2-0 (11-4, 11-4). They will next go up against the pair of Alix and Jonathan Truong, who bucked a one-game deficit to overcome Hsieh and Thomas Yu, 2-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-5).
The other Semis pairing in Mixed Doubles will feature a match between the pair of Dennehy and Santosh Narayanan and the duo of Christian Alshon and Kaitlyn Christian. The former clinched a Semis spot by beating Chao Yi Wang and PPA Tour star Tyson McGuffin, 2-0 (11-9, 11-2), while the latter made it to the top four with a comfortable 2-0 (11-7, 11-0) win against the duo of Yufei Long and Hoang Nam Ly.
Ben Johns, Christian Alshon Face Deficit but Pull Through
Speaking of Alshon and Johns, the two high-profile Americans have been encountering rough sailing in their first ever partnership. After being pushed to the limit in the Round of 16, they had to dig deep again in the Quarters as they lost game 1, 11-9, to the pair of Vanshik Kapadia and Robert Nunnery. Faced with a one-game deficit, Johns and Alshon turned it up right after, cruising in the next two games—11-1, 11-4—to make it to the Semis.
Johns and Alshon’s Semis match ought to be interesting as they will meet Zane Navratil, a top pro in the PPA Tour, and Armaan Bhatia, India’s top pickleball player. The Navratil-Bhatia connection booked a Semifinals seat with a hard-earned 2-1 (11-8, 4-11, 11-2) win over the pair of Thomas Yu and Len Yan.
Singles Action Recap
Alshon will lead the top four in Men’s Singles, where he will be meeting Hoang Nam Ly in one bracket, while Jack Wong Hong-kit, thus far PPA Tour Asia’s top singles player, meets Hien Truong in the other.
Alshon comfortably made it to the Semis with a dominant 2-0 win (11-4, 11-1) over Mitchell Hargreaves, while Ly clinched his spot by eking out a 2-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-5) victory versus inaugural PPA Asia Tour Men’s Singles champ Giang Trinh. Hong-kit likewise had to pass through the eye of the needle against Phuc Huynh as the two went the distance, with the Hong Konger coming out on top, 2-1 (2-11, 11-7, 11-8) after a first game defeat. Truong, in contrast, cruised to the Semis with a 2-0 (11-3, 11-3) romp over Leung.
On the distaff side, Kaitlyn Christian, Andie Dikosavljevic, Roos Van Reek, and Chao Yi Wang made it to the top four. Christian and Dikosavljevic made it to the Semis with contrasting wins as the former cruised past Ting Chieh Wei, 2-0 (11-4, 11-1), while the latter outlasted Hsiang Wen Huang, 2-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-3). Van Reek and Wang sealed their Semis pairing with victories over Dennehy and Schoeman, respectively. Van Reek beat Dennehy 2-0 (11-6, 11-7), while Wang overcame Schoeman 2-0 (11-7, 11-5).
Day 3 of the Panas Malaysia Cup continues today.
