After a week with no tournaments on the HSBC BWF World Tour calendar, we now return to Asia. This week brings the DAIHATSU Japan Open, a Super 750, and next week the VICTOR China Open, a Super 1000. There’s plenty of exciting badminton to come!

Many of the big names who skipped the US and Canada tournaments are back in action, so we’ll see plenty of familiar faces. The DAIHATSU Japan Open 2025 starts tomorrow at 2am CEST (9am local time). The first two days will be all about the first round, with the top half of the draw playing on day one and the bottom half on day two.

Plenty of tough draws for Europeans
In men’s singles, Europe’s top names will be on court. Toma Junior Popov faces a big challenge against Shi Yu Qi, while there’s an all-European clash between his brother Christo Popov and third seed Rasmus Gemke. Anders Antonsen, the highest-seeded European as second seed, will meet unseeded Lei Lan Xi. The Dane has won all their encounters so far, but the last two went to three games, proving tough.

Also back is Alex Lanier, who last year claimed his biggest title on the tour by winning the Japan Open. He’ll be aiming to have another strong run, starting with Leon Jun Hao in the first round.

In women’s singles, it’s also a challenging start. Polina Buhrova faces Chen Yu Fei, Mia Blichfeldt meets Akane Yamaguchi, and Kirsty Gilmour goes up against Tomoka Miyazaki.

Men’s doubles will bring a rematch of this year’s European Championships quarterfinals, with Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen taking on Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard. Back in that match, Lundgaard/Vestergaard pulled off an upset by beating the former world number one pair, although Astrup/Rasmussen already got their payback in the Malaysia Masters quarterfinals back in May.

In women’s doubles, European pairs will not have an easy opening round either. Polina Buhrova/Yevheniia Kantemyr will take on top seeds Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning, while Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva face the third-seeded Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan.

The mixed doubles draw also promises some interesting clashes. Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch will face Hee Yong Kai Terry/Jin Yu Jia from Singapore, who have won their last two encounters. Can the Danes turn it around this time? Meanwhile, Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue come in as seventh seeds and start against the USA’s Chen Zhi Yi/Francesca Corbett.

You can check the draw and the order of play for the first day here.