At the APP pro tour's D-Joy 2026 Saigon Cup, held in Vietnam in the week of September 13, local player Huynh reached the women's singles final and beat APP world number one Kat Stewart of the United States 12-10 in the third game to take the title. An unseeded player took down the tour's top seed, and on home courts. It showed in results and numbers that Southeast Asia has reached the point of trading shots with the world's best. What is happening in one corner of a fast-growing Asia is not someone else's business for players in Japan, where pro competition is also getting started.
An unseeded player held on through the final game against the top seed
The shape of the final was clear: Stewart at the top of the APP rankings on one side, unseeded local player Huynh on the other. On ranking alone it would not have been strange for the gap to show, but the match went the distance. Huynh closed out the third game 12-10, winning a two-point squeaker for the title. As an international singles title for Vietnam, it was a big step.
The gold was also Huynh's second international podium in a short span. The previous month she took silver at the MB Open in Ho Chi Minh City, reaching the final stages of world pro tour events two months running. The results show a run of wins rather than a one-off.
The main Saigon Cup results by event
| Event | Winner | Runner-up | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's singles | Huynh (VIE) | Kat Stewart (USA) | 12-10 in the third game |
| Men's singles | Ronan Cameron | Drake Palm | Cameron's first international gold |
| Men's Doubles | Munro / Livornese | Mantu / Trinh Linh Giang | 8-5 |
| Mixed doubles | Oshiro / Lane | Turkovic / Trinh Linh Giang | Vietnamese players reach two finals |
Huynh is the story of the women's singles, but Vietnam's surge goes well beyond that event. Local player Trinh Linh Giang reached two finals, in men's doubles and mixed doubles, and although the titles got away, he went toe to toe with the world's best in more than one event. A host nation taking women's singles gold and several runner-up finishes at the same time shows how much depth Vietnam now has.
Why the upsets keep coming in Southeast Asia
It is too early to write off Huynh's title as a one-off. Vietnam is building competitive infrastructure at speed, and the quality of tournament operations is rising with it. This year's Saigon Cup carried the name of D-Joy, an analytics company, and the use of match data is spreading on the ground.D-Joy's move to bring AI officiating into a Vietnamese tournamentshows a setting where the business of staging events and the technology behind it are growing together, and that ground is what lifts local players.
Homegrown momentum is showing on the equipment side too.A Vietnamese brand unveiled its second-generation paddle in Hanoi, and products that support players are starting to be made at home. When players, tournaments and equipment all grow together, not just the number of people playing, upsets like this stop being accidents and start repeating.
Where Vietnam sits inside Asia's growth
Huynh's win is one frame in the wider Asian picture.The growth in Asia that DUPR's data showshas shown Vietnam growing fast alongside South Korea and Malaysia. The rise in participation has finally surfaced as an international result from a top player. Widen the base across a country and someone breaks clear of it, and the Saigon Cup is a textbook case of how that looks.
The global pro tours do not see Asia as a passing market either. APP staging its own event in Southeast Asia and sending world No. 1-caliber players into it is evidence that it treats the region as a main battleground. When a home player wins, the heat around the sport in that country climbs further. Vietnam is entering that cycle.
What Japanese players and organizers should take from this
There are two things Japanese players can take from the result. The first is that Asian rivals are getting stronger for real. Japan has had its own encouraging moments, including a team semifinal finish at the world event in Da Nang, but Southeast Asia is growing fast enough to pass Japan by. With a pro league starting at home, there is not much room to delay building the base.
The second is the impact of a home player winning on home soil. As Huynh's gold showed, beating a world-class opponent on your own court gives a strong push to anyone thinking of taking up the sport. If domestic events grow in Japan, a local win could set off the same spread. For fans, following Asian results week after week is the material for reading what comes next.
What to watch from here
The first thing to watch is whether Huynh's second international gold stays a one-off. Following how far a player with this momentum, gold here after silver the month before, climbs on the next tour will show whether Southeast Asia's strength is the real thing. The form of local players such as Trinh Linh Giang, who reached finals in more than one event, is another way to measure Vietnam's depth.
For organizers in Japan, it is worth treating Asian tour results as material for development at home. Who broke down the world's best, and with what tactics? Dig into the scorelines of the finals and there are hints that translate into practice plans. Start by reviewing one close match, like the ones at this Saigon Cup, in detail.
Sources
This article drew on the following coverage.
