Home favourite Beiwen Zhang withdraws from US Open 2023

The fourth seed had pulled up with Achilles injury last week at the Canada Open.

The BWF North American badminton tour enters its final leg with the US Open 2023 set to take place from July 11 to 16 at the Council Bluffs, Lowa. This is the 16th tournament of the BWF World Tour 2023 and is also a part of the U.S. Open championships which has been held since 1954. Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Ratchanok Intanon are the top seeds in the men's and women's singles respectively.

Fourth seed and home favourite Beiwen Zhang has pulled out of her home tournament due to achilles injury. She finished semi-finalists last week at the Canada Open 2023 and gave away a direct walkover to Ratchanok Intanon. Along with Zhang, Thailand's number two women's singles player Busanan Ongbamrungphan too withdrew from the tournament.

Apart from the above two seeded players, five other women's singles players have also withdrawn from US Open 2023 - Ines Lucia Salaza, Haramara Gaitan, Sabrina Solis, Tereza Svablkova, Vanessa Garcia Contrelas. In their absence, Clara Azurmendi, Talia NG, Jenjira Stadelmann, Qi Xuefei, and Pornpicha Choeikeewong have been given direct qualification into the main draw.

The home crowd will definitely miss the services of Beiwen Zhang who has been in terrific form in the past two BWF World Tour tournaments. She reached the final of Chinese Taipei Open and then finished semi-finalists at the Canada Open last week. The WR-13, apart from the above specified tournaments and the Swiss Open, has not performed to the expectations at the big stages.

She should look to come back from injury at the earliest, as she is the only hope from USA at the Paris Olympics and finishing inside top 16 in the qualification cycle will be a demanding task for the 32-year-old.

Players withdrawn from US Open 2023

1. Beiwen Zhang

2. Busanan Ongbamrungphan

3. Ines Lucia Salazar

4. Haramara Gaitan

5. Sabrina Solis

6. Tereza Svablkova

7. Vanessa Garcia Contrelas