Akane Yamaguchi poses with her shield after beating An Se Young in the 2022 final.
Smashing Stats: Japan Open 2026
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
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Have a gander through some standout facts and figures around DAIHATSU Japan Open 2026, the season’s third HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event.
For the second consecutive year, all five reigning champions return to defend their titles.
China are the only nation with seeded entries across all five categories.
This century, they have not produced titlists at just three editions (2004, 2012, 2023).
No country has ruled a sector quite like China have in mixed doubles over the past decade. They have won six of the eight finals since 2016.
Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping are the only top seeds yet to capture the Japan Open. Huang, however, is a two-time mixed doubles champion alongside Wang Yi Lyu (2017, 2019).
Should Tse Ying Suet lift the mixed doubles crown with Tang Chun Man, she would become the first player to win two disciplines since Christinna Pedersen in 2016.
Tse, the women’s doubles winner with Poon Lok Yan in 2012, could emulate Pedersen, who took women’s doubles with Kamilla Rytter Juhl in 2016, a season after acing mixed doubles alongside Joachim Fischer Nielsen.
Mixed doubles is the category in which all their three triumphs have come for Thailand, who possess men’s singles second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
After Akane Yamaguchi ended their 32-year wait for a home champion in 2013, Japan have celebrated podium toppers at every edition except 2016 and 2025.
Third seed Yamaguchi is chasing a record-breaking fifth crown, which would move her one clear of Li Lingwei as the most successful women’s singles player.
Remarkably, three of Yamaguchi’s four Japan Open triumphs have come in the last five editions.
She already accounts for 80 per cent of Japan’s women’s singles titles at the tournament. Nozomi Okuhara is the other local player to have prevailed in 2015.
Among returning former champions, Okuhara’s 11-year drought is the lengthiest.
Top seeds Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning stand to become the first women’s pair since four-time winners Ge Fei/Gu Jun (1995, 1997-1999) to top the podium thrice.
They will also be the first since their illustrious compatriots to taste glory for three straight seasons.
Standout Stat: India are the sole nationwith seeded entry (men’s doubles No.3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty) still waiting for their maiden Japan Open titlists.
Rankireddy/Shetty lost in the second round last year, to Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.