Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns Top Seeds for MB Hanoi Cup April Event
Anna Leigh Waters enters the MB Hanoi Cup as top seed in two events, marking her PPA Tour Asia debut, with Ben Johns hunting his first Asian tour gold April 1–5.
PPA Tour Asia released the official seedings for the MB Hanoi Cup on March 18, placing Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns at the top of the field for the tour's season-opening 1,000-point event, which runs April 1–5 at the My Dinh Indoor Athletics Arena in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Waters enters as the top seed in both the Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles draws. She will partner World No.2 Anna Bright in women's doubles, with Catherine Parenteau and Tyra Black seeded second behind them. PPA Tour Asia framed the event as a landmark moment: "The pressure will be on the American star as she makes her international debut when she steps out on court next month." Waters arrives in Vietnam having already won her 42nd triple crown at the Veolia Texas Open, with more than 190 gold medals to her name overall.
Johns, ranked World No.1, holds the top seed in both Mixed Doubles and Men's Doubles. He partners Gabriel Tardio in the men's doubles draw, a pairing that arrives in Hanoi fresh off a title-winning run at the Texas Open. Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin are seeded second in men's doubles, with Dylan Frazier and Eric Oncins slotted third. PPA Tour Asia noted that Johns "will be keen to collect his first gold in the event in Asia, having bagged silver and bronze in his 2025 showings on the tour."
In the singles draws, Staksrud takes the men's singles top seed and Kate Fahey leads the women's singles field. Fahey's path looks complicated by Kaitlyn Christian, currently ranked World No.3 and fresh off winning the Panas Malaysia Cup. Sixth seed Sahra Dennehy adds further depth: the World No.13 closed out 2025 without dropping a match across back-to-back gold medal runs at the MB Vietnam Cup and the Vibrant Linping Hangzhou Open.
The MB Hanoi Cup represents the first PPA Tour Asia stop in Northern Vietnam. Up to US$300,000 in prize money is on offer alongside the 1,000 ranking points, making it the highest-stakes opener the tour has staged. The circuit's next two confirmed stops follow in Kuala Lumpur from May 14–17 and Macao from May 28–31.
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