Former champion Priyanshu Rajawat will take on home star Alex Lanier in a high-profile opening round battle at the Orleans Masters Badminton 2025.

The 2023 champion will look to turn around his fortunes in Orleans after a series of early exits. Rajawat has fallen in either the first or second round of eight of his last nine tournaments.

His opponent, on the other hand, has been in the form of his life over the last few months. Having never made it past the quarterfinals at Orleans, Lanier will look to come good this time, riding the confidence of winning the Japan Open and making the semifinals in Denmark. Rajawat and Lanier have played twice before, with the honours even.

The winner of this clash will run into either Takuma Obayashi or Brian Yang. At the top of the draw is Lee Zii Jia, who will be looking to win his first title since June.

In the women’s singles, there will be plenty of interest around 2020 Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei, who returns to the HSBC BWF World Tour after June last year. Chen took an extended break after Paris 2024, only returning in February for the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship, where she played only two matches.

Top seed An Se Young begins her European campaign by playing a qualifier; a likely quarterfinal against rising star Tomoka Miyazaki is on the cards.

Withdrawals:

Men’s Singles: Christo Popov, Toma Junior Popov (France), S Ogawa (Japan)
Women’s Singles: Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark), Nguyen Thuy Linh (Vietnam), Tasnim Mir (India), Kaloyana Nalbantova (Bulgaria)
Men’s Doubles: Christo Popov/Toma Junior Popov (France), Kevin Lee/Ty Alexander Lindeman (Canada); Koceila Mammeri/Youcef Sabri Medel (Algeria)
Women’s Doubles: Li/Wang (China)
Mixed Doubles: R Espersen/Amalie Kudsk (Denmark)

Promotions:
Men’s Singles: Tan Jia Jie (Malaysia), Wang Po-Wei. Liao Jhuo-Fu (Chinese Taipei)
Women’s Singles: Unnati Hooda (India), Kisona Selvaduray (Malaysia), Chen Su Yu (Chinese Taipei), Qi Xuefei (France)
Men’s Doubles: Chen Cheng Kuan/Lin Bing-Wei (Chinese Taipei), Sun Wen Jun/Zhu Yi Jun (China), Julien Maio/William Villeger (France)
Women’s Doubles: Jacqueline Cheung/Catherine Choi (Canada)
Mixed Doubles: Lin Bing Wei/Lee Chih Chen (Chinese Taipei)

Order of Play (Day 1)