World No.10 Alex Lanier will seek to defend his title on home soil at this week’s Orleans Masters 2026, the second seed having not won an HSBC BWF World Tour event since claiming victory in Orleans last March.

Lanier, whose best result in the last year was a runner-up finish at the Super 750 Japan Open in July, will face compatriot Arnaud Merkle in their fourth meeting. Merkle leads the head-to-head 2–1.

Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen leads the men’s singles draw as the top seed and will open his campaign against Kantaphon Wangcharoen.

There have also been changes to the draw following the withdrawal of No.3 seed Kenta Nishimoto. The Japanese had been scheduled to face India’s Kiran George in the opening round. George will now take on teammate Ayush Shetty, who moves into the draw as the eighth seed.

The Seed Withdrawal Movement also affects Wang Zheng Xing. The Chinese player had been set to encounter Anthony Sinisuka Ginting but will now face Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chia Hao.

In mixed doubles, top seeds Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue will aim to build on their momentum of finishing runners-up at the All England two weeks ago. The French pair, Orleans champions in 2019, they appear to have a favourable route to the final although their closest challengers – defending champions Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund – sit in the same half.

Gicquel/Delrue will open their campaign against Chen Cheng Kuan/Hsu Yin Hui in what will be their third meeting.

In men’s doubles, the withdrawal of top seeds Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen moves Leo Rolly Carnando/Bagas Maulana to third seeds. The Indonesians will face Chinese Taipei’s Chen Cheng Kuan/Lin Bing Wei.

Other main withdrawals and promotions are as follows:

Withdrawals

Men’s singles: Prannoy H.S.

Women’s singles: Kirsty Gilmour

Men’s doubles: Liu Kuang Heng/Yang Po Han, Koceila Mammeri/Youcef Sabri Medel, Eloi Adam/Leo Rossi, Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard

Women’s doubles: Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam, Isyana Syahira Meida/Rinjani Kwinnara Nastine, Simona Pilgaard/Signe Schulz, Julie Macpherson/Ciara Torrance, Kathrine Vang/Mette Werge

Mixed doubles: Julien Maio/Lea Palermo, Bobby Setiabudi/Melati Oktavianti, Ye Hong Wei/Nicole Gonzales Chan

Promotions

Men’s singles: Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Liao Jhuo-Fu

Women’s singles: Yvonne Li

Men’s doubles: Bjarne Geiss/Jan Colin Jansen, Alexander Green/Zach Russ, Ivor Van Delsen/Yvan Van Delsen, Adithya Doddanavarapu/Arun Pochana, Mihajlo Tomic/Arnaud Tores

Mixed doubles: Yuta Watanabe/Mayu Taguchi, Akira Koga/Natsuki Saito, Nathan Begga/Elsa Jacob

Click here to view the updated draw.

Orleans Masters 2026 starts today with the first qualification match scheduled for 4pm Kuala Lumpur time (UTC +8).