The Danes are unseeded of course and nestled in the bottom half of the draw and while the majority of Europe’s elite tackle the French Super Series in Paris the Danish duo aim to capitalise in Hungary. An opening match against Indians Dewalkar and Tarun will give an early indication as to their form and that match will be quickly followed up with a game against second seeded Singaporeans Hee and Loh the world number 50 pairing. 

If the Danish pair can come through that early tournament test they will then have the luxury of looking towards the top half of the draw to find likely final opponents with the second Singapore pair of Chrisnanta and Wijaya the most likely to emerge from the pack. 

While the cat’s away………

Like in the doubles events the majority of the regular circuit players have bigger fish to fry this week in Paris. What that represents is a real opportunity for someone to emerge from the pack and land a circuit title that on any other week would be unexpected. 

The men’s singles still has an interesting air to it with Denmark’s Viktor Svendsen (pictured above) the unseeded tip for the title after some excellent early season form. Top seed is Indra Bagus Ade Chandra and the Milan based Indonesian is the quality of the field, that’s if he can put 5 wins together to lift the title, something that has been his downfall in the past. 

Another to keep an eye on is Felix Burestedt. The Swede has flown under the radar this new season but has played well against some top opposition. It could be his week to emerge from the pack. On the flip side, all three players mentioned above are in the top half of the draw so it will be a case of survival of the fittest. 

Airi Mikkela is seeded one in the women’s singles event and must be sharp against local Daniella Gonda in round 1. The Hungarian has caused some upsets in the past and can do the same again. Others with an eye on the top step of the podium this week will be Mariya Mitsova (BUL), Fontaine Chapman (ENG), Ksenia Polikarpova (RUS) and Dane Sofie Holmboe Dahl, that’s if the Dane can find her Belgian form after some understated performances this past few weeks. 

In the women’s doubles it would be foolish to look any further than Bulgarian duo Petya Nedelcheva and Mariya Mitsova even with a host of Danish and English pairs in the mix while in the mixed doubles Mathias Bay-Smidt trades sisters this week and teams up with Gabriella Boje as Alexandra puts her focus on the world juniors in Bilbao. 

Bay-Smidt won in Prague from qualification with the younger Boje sister and it is not outside the realms of possibility that he could do the same this week with Gabriella by his side. 

The Hungarian International kicks off on Thursday and will trial the new first to 11 best of 5 experimental BWF scoring system. To view the full draws for this week’s Yonex Hungarian International click HERE