While the US-domestic players got a breather from a hectic first six weeks of the MLP season, the Professional Pickleball Association Asian Tour held its fifth event of their 2026 season in Tokyo, holding the 2026 Sansan Tokyo Open.
Before the recap, a bit of an editorial.
This was a 500-point level event, meaning it was worth half of a normal run of the mill “Open” event here in the states. I’ve been having a few off-line/off-the record conversations with fellow pundits about these events, and whether or not it is “fair” that some US-based players are flying over on the regular to claim points in these events, when they’re not earning anywhere close to the same number of points in domestic events. For example, winning this event earned the champion the equivalent of a third place finish in a 1000-level event; is that warranted? Are these draws strong enough to award that level of points?
The answer is, No, probably not. While there’s certainly talent in these PPA Asia and PPA Australia events, and players who are routinely on the podiums in these events have more than proven that they can compete with the top US-based players, the depth of the tour is not nearly on that level. There’s been persistent grumbling about players getting a ton of points merely by flying over to Asia for these events, and now with a global tour a point earned in Tokyo is the same as a point earned in Florida. When the tour goes completely to a prize-money based model, and spots in the lucrative tour finals become more competitive, these points will mean even more.
The truth is, the PPA (or the APP for that matter, who is also pursuing a global tour) has to start somewhere. They can’t run separate leaderboards based on geography forever. Tennis’ ATP and WTA run global tours, and inarguably there’s lower-level 250 events in random places that have stronger draws than other parts of the world, and those players who make the effort to go there end up with easier pathways to the later rounds and easier pathways to ranking points. It is what it is. If domestic players don’t like the advantage that these frequent Asia-traveling players have, then they should try to do the same themselves.
Click here for the PickleballTournaments.com home page for the event.
Let’s do a quick recap of the results, highlighting the winners, the upsets, and the top players who made waves.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
It seems like many of the PPA’s male singles players read my editorial, as the singles division was littered with Americans. More than half the draw was traveling US-based players, including French, Pham, Shaffer, Goldin, Navratil, Burkhardt, and the two top seeds Zane Ford and Tama Shimabukuro. However, it was an Australian in Mitch Hargreaves who blew through the bottom half of the draw, beating Zane, Tama, and Hatakeyama to make the finals.
There, he lost to Hong kit Wong, who won the Beijing Open three weeks ago. Wong took out top seed Zane Ford in the semis (a rematch of the Beijing final) and then dispatched Hargreaves to win the event without dropping a game. Wong is now up to #15 on the PPA tour in Singles despite (to my knowledge) never playing a domestic event.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
The Women’s pro singles event did not have nearly the proliferation of US-based players, but a few made the trip and were joined by most of the top Australian players and other internationals who are gaining recognition thanks to their participation in MLP. This included Danni-Elle Townsend, the 2026 MLP revelation, plus Sahra Dennehy,
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
With this story published, the Medal Tracker is updated online. Please visit the “PPA Int’l” tab for a complete list of all prior Medal winners at all PPA Asia & PPA Australia events.
Next up for the PPA International tours? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule ….
Resources I rely on while covering the PPA International events: