PPA Asia Men's Singles Final - MB Vietnam Open 2025: Internal story of Vietnamese pickleball

PPA Asia Tour - Vietnam Open 2025, starting from September 4 to 7 in Ho Chi Minh City, is attracting the attention of the Vietnamese pickleball community.

For the first time, 4 Vietnamese tennis players entered the PPA Asia semi-finals - Photo: PPA

This is the first year PPA has set foot in Asia and also the first time Vietnam has a stop in the series of promotional events.

The leaders of the Vietnamese pickleball movement are tennis players who have switched to it. The names that have established themselves at home and abroad include Trinh Linh Giang (Malaysia Open champion), Ly Hoang Nam (former number 1 tennis player in Vietnam), Huynh Thien Phuc (Fukuoka Open runner-up) and Truong Vinh Hien (Vietnam tennis team).

The four players met unexpectedly in the PPA Asia Tour - Vietnam Open men's singles tournament. The Vietnamese male players defeated a series of opponents from places with developed pickleball such as Australia, Hong Kong and India.

Huynh Thien Phuc (Phuc Huynh) defeated No. 1 athlete on the PPA Asia rankings, Hong Wong Kit 2-0 (11-2, 11-5) to meet Trinh Linh Giang in the first semi-final. Linh Giang had no difficulty defeating Kenta Miyoshi also with a score of 2-0.

The meeting can be said not only to find a ticket to the final but also to be the basis for pickleball fans to see who is the top player in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in the second semi-final, Ly Hoang Nam overcame Nguyen Dac Tien, also a former tennis player, to enter the semi-final against Vinh Hien of the former Vietnam tennis team. Vinh Hien has improved after a series of failures in previous tournaments to reach the semi-final on home soil.

The championship is not only an internal story of Vietnamese pickleball players, but also a family story of athletes who switched from professional tennis to a new sport. It also affirms that Vietnamese pickleball is "unrivaled" in the men's singles category.

In the women's singles bracket, only Sophia Phuong Anh managed to reach the quarterfinals. This event still belongs to Yufei Long (China), Yu Chieh Hsieh (Taiwan).

Besides, if lucky to pair up in doubles on September 6 and 7, host Vietnam can have more hope in the bracket where for the first time there will be a doubles medal.

PPA Asia - Vietnam Open 2025 has 354 professional and amateur tennis players registered to participate. The total prize of the tournament is 50,000 USD with the first place for singles being 1,800 USD, doubles is 3,000 USD/pair. In addition, the organizers also award 1,000 points to the champion of each event.

QUANG THINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chung-ket-don-nam-ppa-asia-mb-vietnam-open-2025-chuyen-noi-bo-cua-pickleball-viet-20250906104503259.htm