Vietnam Survive Twice, Japan Break England Hearts as the World Cup Finds Its Meaning

Thirty-two countries became eight during a relentless first knockout day in Da Nang. Vietnam then survived Australia, Japan recovered from 3–1 down against England and the United States ended India’s run as the World Cup moved towards its final four.

Gordon Watson did not strike a ball on Friday.

By the end of it, he was ready to call the experience “the best day of my pickleball life, and I didn’t even pick up a paddle”.

There is something in that line which reaches beyond enthusiasm.

For the first three days in Da Nang, the Pickleball World Cup had belonged largely to individuals. Lý Hoàng Nam reached three professional finals. Roos Van Reek reached two. Jack Munro, Nicola Schoeman and Richard Livornese Jr brought winning form from other competitions into Sunday’s medal programme.

Then the flags arrived on court.

Thirty-two countries entered Friday’s Open team knockout bracket. Sixteen survived the first round. Eight remained by the end of the night. On Saturday, Vietnam and Japan required final battles to reach the semi-finals, while the United States removed an Indian team that had won almost everything placed in front of it.

The national format kept changing the question.

Women’s doubles became men’s doubles. Two mixed partnerships followed. Singles could rescue a country or expose it. If the first six matches left the tie level, four players returned for a final battle.

One star could influence several parts of the day. Nobody could control all of it.

That is where the World Cup began to feel like one.

Vietnam’s perfection ends. Their tournament does not

Vietnam entered the knockout stage after winning all 18 matches in pool ties against Chile, the Cayman Islands and Colombia.

Friday initially offered more of the same.

The hosts settled their round-of-32 tie against South Africa before singles became necessary. Ken Tam and Sĩ Bội Ngọc won women’s doubles. Đỗ Minh Quân and Quang Dương followed in the men’s match. Lý Hoàng Nam and Trang Huỳnh took the first mixed contest before Trịnh Linh Giang and Sophia Huỳnh Trần completed a 4–0 victory.

The Netherlands made them solve a different problem in the last 16.

Van Reek and Rebecca Pijls beat Sophia Huỳnh Trần and Trang Huỳnh in women’s doubles. Hoàng Nam and Linh Giang replied for Vietnam in the men’s match, before Quang Dương and Sophia moved the hosts ahead through the first mixed contest.

The Dutch response was substantial.

Pieter de Vries and Van Reek won the second mixed match. Van Reek then defeated Ken Tam in women’s singles. Phúc Huỳnh beat Johan den Toom in men’s singles.

Three matches each.

Vietnam’s perfect record had disappeared. Their place in the tournament was now attached to a single four-player contest.

Phúc Huỳnh, Hoàng Nam, Ken Tam and Trang Huỳnh won the final battle 20–10 against Den Toom, De Vries, Van Reek and Naomi de Hart.

Vietnam advanced 4–3.

The hosts had spent the first four days demonstrating how many good players they possessed. The Netherlands forced them to prove that those players could come together after the original tie had failed to separate the countries.

Saturday would ask them to do it again.

Australia find the weak points and still fall short

Australia had given every indication that they were equipped for this format.

Schoeman and Selina Turulja had already reached the professional women’s doubles final as a pair. Harrison Brown and Robert Stirling provided proven men’s quality. Zac Grabovic and Sarah Burr gave the roster more ways to be arranged as the discipline changed.

Singapore went out 4–0 in the opening knockout round.

South Korea appeared capable of creating a much tighter last-16 tie, particularly through their women. Australia gave them no route into it.

Schoeman and Turulja edged Mihae Kwon and Suin Lee 20–19. Stirling and Brown then survived Eunggwon Kim and Seong Yong Park by the same score. Grabovic and Schoeman won the first mixed match 20–16 before Stirling and Turulja completed another 4–0 victory.

The margins had been narrow. Australia had won all four of them.

Against Vietnam on Saturday morning, the same balance almost removed the hosts.

Schoeman and Turulja opened with a 20–11 women’s doubles victory over Sophia Huỳnh Trần and Trang Huỳnh. Hoàng Nam and Linh Giang answered by beating Stirling and Brown 20–16 in men’s doubles.

Quang Dương and Sophia restored Vietnam’s advantage with a 20–13 mixed doubles win against Grabovic and Schoeman. Stirling and Turulja responded by edging Hoàng Nam and Ken Tam 22–21.

Two matches each.

Schoeman then beat Trang Huỳnh 20–14 in women’s singles. Australia had found three wins through three different combinations and moved within one match of the semi-finals.

Phúc Huỳnh stopped them.

His 20–13 singles victory over Brown left another Vietnamese tie level at 3–3.

The final battle brought Phúc Huỳnh, Hoàng Nam, Trang Huỳnh and Sĩ Bội Ngọc together against Grabovic, Brown, Turulja and Schoeman. Vietnam won 20–16.

Another final battle. Another escape. Another 4–3 victory.

Australia had done more than make the hosts uncomfortable. They had identified routes through the Vietnamese roster and placed themselves one match from converting them into elimination.

Vietnam survived because the final battle allowed their leading players to return together.

That may now be the most important part of their advantage.

England spend Friday learning how to survive

England’s round of 32 began with a defeat.

Edgaras Zilys and Henrikas Traskin beat Nicholas Wade and Freddie Powell in men’s doubles to give Lithuania the first point. Evie Kenna and Ellie Tomkinson restored parity in the women’s match.

Ben Cawston and Tomkinson won the first mixed contest. Mikar Fisher and Megan Fudge took the second. Katie Morris completed England’s progress through women’s singles.

Canada presented a more severe examination in the last 16.

Jada Bui and Anne-Sophie Courteau defeated Tomkinson and Fudge in women’s doubles. Wade and Powell replied against Ryan Torresin and Matthew Kawamoto.

Bui and Torresin put Canada back in front by winning the first mixed match. Fisher and Fudge answered in the second.

Two matches each.

Bui then beat Morris in women’s singles. Matt Finnerty responded by defeating Ernesto Fajardo.

Three each.

England had fallen behind three times and found three different routes back into the tie. The final battle was the first moment in which they created decisive separation.

Fisher, Finnerty, Fudge and Morris won it 20–8.

England advanced 4–3. Canada left after winning half of the opening six matches and never trailing until the contest that removed them.

A day later, England would discover how quickly that feeling could reverse.

England lead Japan 3–1. It still is not enough

Japan arrived in the quarter-finals after beating Samoa 4–0 and Portugal 4–1.

Their match against England turned on four points stretched across two singles contests.

Rika Fujiwara and Kei Sawaki gave Japan the first match, edging Tomkinson and Fudge 26–25 in women’s doubles. England answered decisively through Wade and Powell, who beat Yuta Yoshida and Nasa Hatakeyama 20–8.

Powell and Tomkinson then defeated Hatakeyama and Sawaki 20–10 in the first mixed contest. Fisher and Fudge won the second 19–15.

England led 3–1.

They required one victory from the two singles matches still to come. Japan needed both.

Fujiwara beat Morris 20–15.

Finnerty and Hatakeyama then played the match on which the tie depended. Hatakeyama won 22–21.

England had come within two points of a World Cup semi-final across the women’s and men’s singles matches. Japan had survived both.

The final battle brought back Fisher, Finnerty, Fudge and Morris for England, with Hatakeyama, Kento Tamaki, Fujiwara and Sawaki representing Japan.

Japan won 20–16.

The final score was 4–3.

England had spent Friday recovering from three deficits against Canada. Japan spent Saturday recovering from a deficit that left no room for error.

One singles loss would have eliminated them.

They did not lose either.

The United States meet resistance and move through it

The United States have taken the cleanest route into the semi-finals.

They beat Thailand 4–0 in the round of 32. Katerina Stewart and Bobbi Oshiro won women’s doubles. Ronan Camron and Callan Dawson took the men’s match. Livornese and Vivian Glozman won the first mixed contest before Munro and Stewart completed the tie.

New Zealand produced the first American defeat in the last 16 when Conor Robertshawe and Tristan Stayt edged Munro and Livornese 23–22 in men’s doubles.

It did not destabilise the wider tie.

Shelby Bates and Stewart had already won women’s doubles. Livornese and Oshiro took the first mixed contest. Munro and Stewart won the second, before Stewart defeated Brittany Yang in women’s singles.

The United States advanced 4–1.

India arrived in Saturday’s quarter-final carrying a stronger claim than the usual dark-horse label.

They had won 17 of 18 matches in the pool stage. China went out in the round of 32. The Philippines followed in the last 16, although Harsh Mehta and Arjun Singh had lost the men’s doubles match to Leander Lazaro and Patrick Mendoza before their team recovered.

The United States gave India one victory in the quarter-final.

Mehta and Pearl Amalsadiwala earned it by beating Livornese and Glozman in the first mixed match.

Elsewhere, the Americans kept finding the answer.

Oshiro and Stewart won women’s doubles against Pearl and Naomi Amalsadiwala. Munro and Stewart took the second mixed match. Stewart beat Aaliya Ebrahim in women’s singles, and Camron defeated Arjun Singh.

The tie ended 4–1.

India’s tournament still matters. A country does not win 17 of 18 pool matches and reach the last eight by accident. The quarter-final showed the remaining distance between having depth and having enough of it to survive a roster constructed around experienced professionals.

The United States remain the team that has offered opponents the fewest openings.

Sixteen first-round ties, eight routes through

The scale of Friday deserves more than a list of the obvious contenders.

The Netherlands required a final battle to beat Malaysia 4–3. South Korea swept Italy. Canada removed Mexico, while Japan settled its tie against Samoa without needing singles.

Portugal advanced past the Czech Republic. New Zealand beat Brazil. India removed China, and the Philippines came through Pakistan.

France and Germany produced another 3–3 tie. Germany won men’s doubles, women’s doubles and the second mixed match. France answered through the first mixed contest and both singles matches.

Devilliers, Émilien Burnel, Valentine Vernaz and Clara Contis Ramírez then won the final battle to send France through 4–3.

Bulgaria beat Belgium. Spain swept Colombia. Hong Kong, China did the same to Costa Rica.

The last 16 then reduced those winners to eight.

Vietnam survived the Netherlands. Australia swept South Korea. England escaped Canada. Japan removed Portugal.

The United States beat New Zealand. India ended the Philippines’ run. France swept Bulgaria, while Hong Kong, China advanced at Spain’s expense.

Twenty-four ties across one day left four quarter-finals:

• Vietnam against Australia
• England against Japan
• United States against India
• France against Hong Kong, China

Three have been completed.

Each winner reached the semi-finals differently.

Vietnam survived another final battle.

Japan recovered from 3–1 down.

The United States never allowed India to take control.

Today in Da Nang

The following section reflects the official results recorded at 3.40pm in Da Nang on Saturday, 5 September.

The first World Cup semi-final is under way.

Vietnam began against Japan with Ken Tam and Sophia Huỳnh Trần defeating Fujiwara and Sawaki 20–15 in women’s doubles.

That gives the hosts the opening point, although recent evidence should make any early lead feel temporary.

Vietnam have needed final battles in consecutive ties. Japan have just overturned a 3–1 deficit against England. Both countries have shown that the first part of a tie can cease to matter once the discipline changes.

Hoàng Nam and Linh Giang had begun the men’s doubles match against Tamaki and Hatakeyama at the latest update. Quang Dương and Sophia Huỳnh Trần are due to play the first mixed contest, while Hoàng Nam and Sĩ Bội Ngọc form the second Vietnamese mixed partnership.

Trang Huỳnh and Phúc Huỳnh occupy the two singles positions.

Japan’s route is clear. They must prevent Vietnam reaching the final battle with the same options that removed both the Netherlands and Australia.

The other semi-final will place the United States against France or Hong Kong, China.

Hong Kong won the opening women’s doubles match through Tang Nok Yiu and Fan Pui Long. France responded when Devilliers and Burnel took men’s doubles 20–18, then moved ahead through Devilliers and Contis Ramírez in the first mixed contest.

Wong Hong Kit and Tang Nok Yiu then defeated Burnel and Mathilde Sarcelet 20–11 in the second mixed match, leaving the quarter-final level at 2–2 with both singles matches still to come.

The official World Cup order of play and live results will continue to update through the Da Nang afternoon.

This is what the flag is supposed to change

The World Cup needed the national competition to alter the meaning of its matches.

Friday and Saturday have begun to do that.

Schoeman can reach two Pro Open finals and still be unable to carry Australia through a four-player final battle.

Van Reek can win women’s doubles, mixed doubles and singles against Vietnam, yet watch the hosts survive through a combination the Netherlands could not answer.

England can recover from behind three times against Canada, then lose a quarter-final after leading Japan 3–1.

India can dominate its pool and reach the last eight before discovering that the United States can keep changing personnel without leaving an obvious weakness.

Vietnam can lose three matches in consecutive ties and remain alive because their best four-player combination keeps winning the seventh.

That is why Watson could spend a day beside the courts and come away feeling he had experienced something larger than another tournament.

The flags have begun to matter because the results now belong to more than the player who produced them.

Vietnam are still standing.

They are also one final-battle defeat against Australia, and another against the Netherlands, away from being gone.

Their dominance has become survival.

The World Cup is better for it.

Further reading

• Vietnam Looked Like the Team to Beat. Then the Knockout Stage Began
• Three Finals, One Sunday: Lý Hoàng Nam Moves Within Reach of a World Cup Sweep
• Vietnam’s Home Pair Reach the World Cup Men’s Doubles Final
• Vietnam Dominates World Cup Men’s Singles in Da Nang