Danni-Elle Townsend and Nicola Schoeman celebrate their victory at the Panas Malaysia Cup.
Danni-Elle Townsend and Nicola Schoeman celebrate their victory at the Panas Malaysia Cup. PPA Tour Asia

Malaysia Day 2 Recap: Townsend, Schoeman stun Bright, van Reek in women’s doubles

PPA Tour Asia’s Panas Malaysia Cup continued Thursday evening with quarterfinal action in all five pro events.

The biggest result of the day came from women’s doubles, where the Australian tandem of Danni-Elle Townsend/Nicola Schoeman defeated top seeds Anna Bright/Roos van Reek 11-6, 11-3.

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It was a supremely impressive display from the Australians, who were unrelenting in their attacks and excelled in hands battles at the kitchen line.

 

“I think we played about as solid as we could have today,” Townsend said of the performance. “We were trying to be aggressive from the start. We wanted to put a lot of pressure on them, even when we were serving—just run at the net and hope that it works out.”

It certainly did work out, as Townsend/Schoeman are now through to the semifinals where they will face Yu-chieh Hsieh/Liz Truluck.

Another notable result came from the mixed doubles draw, where Sahra Dennehy/Santhosh Narayanan defeated Chao Yi Wang/Tyson McGuffin 11-9, 11-2. They will next face Kaitlyn Christian/Christian Alshon in the semis.

The other three draws were mostly business as usual. Ben Johns/Christian Alshon secured another three-game victory in men’s doubles—this time over Rob Nunnery/Vanshik Kapadia by a 9-11, 11-1, 11-4 score line—and seem to be on a collision course with Eric Oncins/Tyson McGuffin.

Live semifinal coverage from Kuala Lumpur will be available starting at 10pm ET Friday evening on Pickleballtv.