Malaysia's Liong and Loh Lost to Collin Johns. Then Ben Beat Collin 11-3, 11-3

Malaysia's Jimmy Liong and Loh Shi Sheng began their men's doubles draw at the Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong Slam by beating a Chinese pair that The Pickle Base called China's top men's doubles team, 11-3, 11-7. In the next round they met Collin Johns and Len Yang, the No. 8 seeds, and lost 11-4, 11-7. By Friday 23 Oct, those same No. 8 seeds were on the wrong end of an 11-3, 11-3 quarterfinal to Ben Johns, Collin's brother.

Wong and Kim take a game, then the brothers meet

Hong Kong's Hong Kit Wong (Jack Wong) and Korea's Eunggwon Kim also ran into Collin Johns and Len Yang, in the Round of 16. The pair took the second game 11-8 before losing 3-11, 11-8, 5-11. Earlier in the week the partners were rivals in singles, with Wong beating Kim 11-5, 11-5, before they won their doubles match together, 11-5, 11-9.

That left Collin Johns and Len Yang against the No. 1 seeds, Ben Johns and Gabriel Tardio. PPA Tour Asia counted it as only the third time the brothers had opposed each other in men's doubles in PPA history, with Ben leading the head-to-head 2-0 coming in. The quarterfinal went to Ben and Tardio 11-3, 11-3, and by that count Ben now leads 3-0.

A coaching bond, on the mixed side

Collin Johns had a second draw to play. Last year he coached Korea's Mihae Kwon through the UPA Asia Trailblazers program, and this year she asked him to partner her in mixed doubles. They won their first match 11-5, 11-3 over Yuta Funemizu and Albie Huang, then lost to Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson, 11-1, 11-5.

The last Hong Kong player

Wong stayed alive in singles longer than anyone else from home. He lost his quarterfinal to Federico Staksrud in three games, 11-8, 9-11, 10-12, after reaching match point first at 10-9, The Standard reported. Wong was the last Hong Kong player left in the tournament.

Ben Johns and Tardio are one of four men's doubles teams still in the draw, alongside Connor Garnett and Dylan Frazier, Tama Shimabukuro and JW Johnson, and Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin. Semifinals are on Saturday 24 Oct and the finals on Sunday 25 Oct at Kai Tak Arena.

This article is based on social media posts and historical data tracked by Pickle361.