A dozen years have passed since Nozomi Okuhara last won the YONEX Canada Open. The former world champion, who has had a somewhat uneven season so far, will hope to stand once again atop the podium as she seeks her first title of the year.

Okuhara’s best performances were at the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters where she finished runner-up, and the YONEX Swiss Open, where she was in the semifinals. Interspersed with these high points were a few quarterfinals and first-round exits. Given that the draw doesn’t have any of the top 10, the No.2 seed will sense her chance.

The top seed is Beiwen Zhang, who lost a close US Open final on Sunday after holding match point against Natsuki Nidaira; the world No.11 is likely to run into home favourite Michelle Li in the semifinals. Li has a great record at the Canada Open, having won a hat-trick of titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and a fourth title in 2022.

In men’s singles, Anders Antonsen will look to consolidate what has been a great season so far. The Dane, winner of three titles this year, should have comfortable passage until at least the quarterfinals, where he might run into Rasmus Gemke or Priyanshu Rajawat.

Second seed Kodai Naraoka, runner-up at the SATHIO GROUP Australian Open recently, faces compatriot Koo Takahashi in the opening round.

Withdrawals/Promotions

Men’s Singles: India’s Lakshya Sen and Kiran George withdrew; Italy’s Giovanni Toti and India’s Sankar Muthusamy were promoted from reserves.

Women’s Singles: Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt and India’s Malvika Bansod withdrew; Talia Ng (Canada) and USA’s Ishika Jaiswal were promoted from reserves.