Three English pairs will be in action at the Indonesian Masters this week as the BWF season draws towards an exciting climax.
The highest-seeded duo are Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, who enter as fourth seeds in the mixed doubles draw.
Ellis and Smith have not been beyond the last 16 of a competition since reaching the Olympic quarter-finals in Tokyo but will hope to make an impression in Bali in the final Super 750 tournament of the year.
They begin on Tuesday against Indonesia’s Alfian Eko Prasetya and Masita Mahmudin and could meet Danish duo Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Bøje, who knocked Ellis and Smith out of the French Open, in the second round should both pairs come through their openers.
Smith is also in action in the women’s doubles, alongside Chloe Birch, with the pair seeded sixth.
Ukrainian duo Mariia Stoliarenko and Yelyzaveta Zharka are first up on Tuesday for what will be the first meeting between the players, while top seeds Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong are in the same section of the draw as Smith and Birch and could lie in wait in the last eight.
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy are unseeded in the men’s doubles and kick off their competition against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
The Malaysians, ranked eighth in the world, won the sole previous meeting between the pairings at the Sudirman Cup earlier this year but Lane and Vendy pushed them all the way, eventually going down 20-22, 18-21.
The English pair will aim to turn the tables this time around in the first leg of an exciting spell in Indonesia which also includes the Super 1000 Indonesia Open and BWF World Tour Finals.
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