12 June, 2023
Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith take on seeded opposition as BWF action heads to Jakarta for the Indonesia Open 2023.
One of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments on the circuit, the Super 1000 event will see Smith and Birch start their campaign against seventh seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.
The Japanese pairing have won all six of their previous meetings against Smith and Birch, most recently at the YONEX Swiss Open back in March.
However, the English duo performed well at the Singapore Open last week in a tough round one loss, and will be confident of producing a similar display.
Smith will also be in mixed doubles action alongside Marcus Ellis, the duo facing familiar opposition in the form of Mathias Thyrri and Amalie Magelund.
The two pairings have already met twice in the past month, with Ellis and Smith prevailing in three games at the Malaysia Masters before the Danish duo responded with a round one win at the Thailand Open.
Both pairings are unseeded in Jakarta, with seventh seeds Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai potential second round opponents for whoever prevails.
Elsewhere, Ben Lane and Sean Vendy will start against home opposition as they look to back up their run to the last eight in Singapore last week.
The duo start their campaign against home favourites Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Rambitan, who have won both previous meetings between the two pairings.
Should Lane and Vendy win that encounter, they would likely face a blockbuster second round clash against another Indonesian pairing in the form of fourth seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
