Malaysia's Lee tops bill at Japan Open

Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei faces a tough first test at this week's Japan Open as he bids to recapture the title he won in 2007.

The top seed, who was runner-up last year, must beat in-form Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the first round. The 11th-ranked Thai player reached the final at the China Masters at the weekend, losing to home favourite Lin Dan.

The winner of that match will take on either Hsieh Yu-hsing of Taiwan or Indonesia's Simon Santoso before a probable third-round clash against defending champion Soni Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia.

The top half of the draw also includes Athens Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and the 2008 Asian champion Park Sung-Hwan of South Korea.

The withdrawal of world number two Chen Jin of China leaves the bottom half wide open and boosts the chances of third seed Peter Gade of Denmark, who won the title in 1998 and 1999.

His main rivals are Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, Denmark's Joachim Persson and local hope Sho Sasaki.

In the women's competition, last year's Super Series Masters Finals winner and top seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong faces Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia in the first round.

China's Wang Yihan, the fourth seed, who captured her first major title here last year and who has won a clutch of titles this season, will be a threat to Zhou.

World number two Wang Lin is expected to face tough early tests against Asian champion Zhu Lin in the second round, and France's Pi Hongyan.

The bottom half of the draw also includes 2007 champion Tine Rasmussen of Denmark and India's Saina Nehwal.

Matches in the main draw start on Wednesday and the tournament runs until September 27.