Canada Open: Michelle Li Aims for Five
Text by BWF.
Top seed Michelle Li begins her bid for a fifth YONEX Canada Open title as the 2025 edition gets underway today. A champion in 2022 and in 2014, 2015 and 2016, Li returns to action after an injury forced her out from competing since the KAPAL API Indonesia Open in June against Tomoka Miyazaki.
The Canadian, currently ranked world No.19, has been on the mend since and will aim to build on her strong form this season. She opens her campaign against Pitchamon Opatniputh.
Li will face stiff competition from No.2 Nguyen Thuy Linh, No.7 Polina Buhrova and No.8 Nozomi Okuhara in her quest for the podium.
In men’s singles, Chou Tien Chen leads the field and looks to maintain his fine form from the 2025 season. His title hopes could be challenged by Kenta Nishimoto, Ayush Shetty, who defeated the Taipei star in the YONEX US Open semifinals last week, No. 2 seed Kodai Naraoka and Canada’s own Brian Yang.
Canada has not seen a home winner in men’s singles since Hariawan triumphed in 2005.