Malaysia Open 2023 – facts and predictions

Malaysia Open 2023 – sponsored by Petronas – is the first BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament of 2023. It takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 10-15 January 2023.

See the history of the Malaysia Open here

Quick links:
> See the draw for men’s singles
> See the draw for women’s singles
> See the draw for men’s doubles
> See the draw for women’s doubles
> See the draw for mixed doubles

See the BWF World Tour Super Series Calendar for 2023 here

Malaysia Open 2023 facts, figures, and recent winners

Prize money: USD 1,250,000
What’s special: The fans and the rich history of the tournament

Recent champions Malaysia Open (2022)

• Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen, Denmark (win his book)
• Women’s singles: Ratchanok Intanon, Thailand
• Men’s doubles: Hoki / Kobayashi, Japan
• Women’s doubles: Rahayo / Silva, Indonesia
• Mixed doubles: Siwei / Yaqiong, China

Prize money distribution:

Event	Winner	Finalist	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Last 16	Last 32
Singles	$87,500	$42,500	$17,500	$6,875	$3,750	$1,250
Doubles	$92,500	$43,750	$17,500	$7,812.50	$4,062.50	$1,250

Ranking points to be earned:

Winner	Runner-up	3/4	5/8	9/16	17/32
12,000	10,200	8,400	6,600	4,800	3,000

Which players to watch out for at Petronas Malaysia Open

Men’s singles – possibly Momota vs. Axelsen match

Great news in men’s singles. Kento Momota is scheduled to compete. He will face Toma Junior Popov of France (H2H:2-0) in the first round. The winner of that match will meet the winner of first seed and defending Malaysia Open Champion Viktor Axelsen vs. Rasmus Gemke (H2H: 4-0).

If we get another Momota – Axelsen match let’s hope it will be different than last year’s Malaysia Open final, which you can see below.

Anders Antonsen is back. He will face Weng Hongyan from China in the first round. It is the first showdown between the two. The winner of that match will face either Antony Ginting or Angus Ng Ka Long.

Lee Zia Jia of Malaysia is seeded second and will meet Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the first round. That should be an interesting match to watch. If Naraoka can follow up on his recent accomplishments, he might just upset Lee Zia Jia. A certain Malaysian compatriot won the Malaysia Open a whopping 12 times. Therefore, playing in front of his home supporters might make Lee Zia Jia feel even more alive, or he may crumble under the pressure. Naraoka, on the other hand, has nothing to lose and has shown great form in 2022.

The winner of the Lee Zia Jia / Kodai Naraoka match will face the winner of Malaysian Ng Tze Yong against Nhat Nguyen of Ireland (H2H: 1-1) in the second round.

Men’s singles prediction:

The team at Badmintonspeak.com can’t quite agree on who we think will meet in the final.

So here is our soft prediction for the four men’s singles semifinalists at Malaysia Open 2023 – all chosen based on an anticipated near-perfect-form performance and because of their individual “x-factor”
– Viktor Axelsen, Denmark (seeded 1)
– Shi Yuqi, China (unseeded)
– Loh Kean Yew, Singapore (seeded 3)
– Kodai Naraoka, Japan (unseeded)

That said, at the time of writing this, we don’t know the playing and “wind” conditions of the Axiata Arena in KL. As you probably know, that makes a lot of difference in men’s singles.

Women’s singles – players to watch

The reigning Malaysia Open champion is Ratchanok Intanon. She stands to meet Yamaguchi in the quarterfinal. In our opinion, she is not a favorite to come out victorious against Yamaguchi. We predict a new Malaysia Open Champion 2023.

Tai Tzu-Ying has been favored by a reasonably easy draw. We anticipate that Taiwan’s Ace female single player will make it into the top 4 of the tournament.

Carolina Marin is someone to watch. She will be playing what promises to be a thrilling match against India’s Sindhu – in the first round. If Carolina is in form, she might just overpower India’s beloved Pusarla Sindhu. Whoever comes out on top, stands to play either Nozomi Okuhara or Chen Yu Fei in the second round. No matter how it pans out, the audience at the arena and watching at home are in for a real treat.

Finally, Korea’s An Se-young shouldn’t have too much trouble making it to the semifinals. That is if she is fit to fight. If she isn’t, she may very well lose in the second round to Wang Zhiyi from China.

Europe is represented by 7 players (3 players from Denmark, 2 from Spain, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from Germany). Panam is represented by 2 players (1 player from the USA and 1 from Canada. The remaining 23 players are all from Asia.

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