English pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy will be hoping to successfully defend their men’s doubles title in Finland as they are the biggest names at this week’s Arctic Open. The Arctic Open, which takes place from 6-11 October, will get the BWF World Tour’s European swing under way at Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

The unseeded pair won the event in 2025, defeating Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, who were the top seeds. Malaysia’s Chia and Soh levelled things after taking the second game 27-25 to take the final to a decider, which England’s Lane and Vendy won to take the title.

Organisers say the Arctic Open is one of just two Super 500 tournaments to take place in Europe in 2026. After Arctic, the tour heads to Denmark for the Denmark Open (13-18 October, Super 750), before travelling to the French Open (20-25 October, Super 750) and HYLO Open (27 October-1 November, Super 500).

Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Ratchanok Intanon are the top seeds in the men’s and women’s singles events respectively.

In the ladies’ singles, sixth seed P. V. Sindhu of India will start the competition against a qualifier, fifth seed Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) is up against Kaloyana Nalbantova of Bulgaria while Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland is also up against a player yet to qualify.

In the men’s singles, Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia will begin his Arctic Open campaign in the qualification draw, where he’ll face Japan’s Minoru Koga. Nhat Nguyen will be looking to get past Teh Jia Heng on Wednesday with a view to taking on fourth seed Anders Antonsen or Prannoy H. S. in the following round.

The winner of that tie will face China’s Dong Tian Yao. Belgium’s Julien Carraggi, the second seed in the qualifying, will face India’s Tharun Mannepalli with the victor set to take on Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in the main draw. 

Finland have one wild-card place in the men’s singles, with Joakim Oldorff set to represent his country in Vantaa. Finland’s Petra Saarnivaara will represent her home country via a wild-card and will be up against eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt (Denmark) on day one of the tournament.

All action comes to a conclusion at this week’s Arctic Open on Sunday, October 11. Please check back to the BWF World Tour’s official website for any draw changes due to player withdrawals.

Written by

Lakshya