Photo Credits to: APP Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR—The first time a global tour lands in a new region, the stakes aren’t only on the scoreboard. The week is also a test of whether the sport’s biggest moments can feel native in a new place.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Leapmotor APP Kuala Lumpur Open 2026 arrived as the APP Tour’s first event in Asia, held at PLAYA Racquet Club @ PARC Subang from February 9–14. The tournament was promoted at 1,760 participants across professional, amateur, and junior APP NEXT divisions - described as the largest pickleball tournament ever held in Malaysia.
That scale mattered because it changed the texture of the week. This wasn’t a pro showcase happening in isolation. It was an all-level tournament where brackets stacked, courts stayed busy, and finals day had the feeling of a culmination rather than a scheduled broadcast window.
Sewing Turns an Early Jolt Into a Sweep
The headline result belonged to Sofia Sewing, who left Kuala Lumpur with a triple crown - gold in women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.
Her singles final is the one that best explains why the triple crown resonated. Katerina Stewart ripped open the match with an 11–1 first game. It was the kind of start that can drag a player into rushed decisions and emotional swings. Sewing didn’t bite. She steadied the pace, reset the patterns, then took the next two games 11–6 and 11–9 to claim the title.
From there, her weekend looked less like repeating the same win and more like switching jobs without losing sharpness. In women’s doubles, Sewing paired with Megan Fudge and beat Amanda Hendry and Stewart 11–5, 11–9. In mixed doubles, Sewing and Casey Diamond survived the tightest finish of her three finals, edging Richard Livornese Jr. and Fudge 11–5, 8–11, 11–9.
By the end, “triple crown” stopped sounding like a stat line and started reading like the story spine of the tour’s first Asia chapter.
Photo Credits to: Sofia Sewing
Asia Owns Men’s Singles, New Chemistry Wins Men’s Doubles
The men’s singles bracket delivered a result that felt tailor-made for the setting: an all-Asia final. Vietnam’s Phuc Huynh faced Hong Kong’s Hong Kit “Jack” Wong, and Huynh won 11–3, 11–7.
Men’s doubles offered the week’s cleanest chemistry plot. Jack Munro and Ryan Fu beat Tanner Tomassi and Richard Livornese Jr. 11–8, 11–2 to take gold. In a tournament framed around unfamiliar conditions and quick adaptation, that final looked like the simplest verdict: some pairings take time; this one arrived ready.
The Tournament Was Bigger Than the Pro Podium
What made Kuala Lumpur feel substantial wasn’t only the pro podium. The published structure included amateur divisions across 19+, 35+, and 50+ age groups, plus Senior Pros (50+) categories, alongside the pro events. That layering is part of why the event read less like a touring exhibition and more like a full ecosystem - pros chasing titles at the top while a much larger base filled the schedule underneath.
Kuala Lumpur’s Pickleball Moment
For the APP Tour, Kuala Lumpur will be remembered as the week the tour’s map widened - its first Asia stop, staged at full scale, and finished with results that were impossible to miss. Sofia Sewing’s triple crown gave the tournament its headline, while the all-Asia men’s singles final made the setting feel immediate rather than symbolic.
Kuala Lumpur didn’t just host the APP Tour’s first Asia chapter. It showed what an Asia chapter can look like when the sport arrives with momentum - and meets a scene ready to match it.
