The excitement of qualifying for the main draw at the Mark Bates Ltd National Championships goes up a few notches this year with the qualifying rounds being played on the eve of the knockout stage.

And with the draw for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles Round of 32 to be held today, players will know which of the big guns they could face and how their possible path to Finals Day will look. Check out our website this evening for more news about the draw.

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Take your seat in the crowd at the Nationals to enjoy three thrilling doubles competitions, alongside singles and para singles.

Don’t forget, all those attending the Nationals have the chance to enter an exclusive raffle to win a money-can’t-buy World Championships experience – and to see the London 2026 England squads announced on court on Finals Day – click here to read more about this.

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In the qualifying stage, there are 24 men’s groups, most of which have six players and get under way at a variety of start times – 9am, noon, 1pm or 3pm – on Friday. The top player in each group will qualify for the knockout stage.

The six women’s groups of five or six players begin at either 9am or 1pm, with the top four players going through to the Round of 32.

Top seed in the men’s qualifying competition is Chris Doran, a crowd favourite who reached Finals Day in 2024, defeating Connor Green in a pulsating quarter-final which he edged 4-3 (11-8, 11-13, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-13, 12-10) – Doran having a match point in the sixth and then saving three in the decider before completing his victory.

Doran has Matthew Daish in his group – a former England youth international who has not appeared at the Nationals for several years, along with top 20-ranked veteran Neil Charles.

Among the other top seeds in groups are current Junior national champion Jakub Piwowar and Ben Piggott, who won the separate qualifying event last year and ended up playing Liam Pitchford in the knockouts.

Former Under-21 national champion Shayan Siraj and current under-17 champion Max Radiven are also top of their respective groups, as is Josh Bennett, who has been making headlines following his appearance in blockbuster film Marty Supreme.

Paralympic hero Will Bayley, as well as featuring in the Class 6-10 competition, is also aiming to qualify for the main draw and is in Group 11, which is headed up by England youngster Rohan Dani.

Dimitar Dimitrov and Rishaan Sawant will get a rematch of their semi-final meeting from the Cadet nationals two weeks ago in Group 17, though neither is expected to qualify based on rankings. In Group 19, No 1 veteran Lorestas Trumpauskas will be bidding to join son Larry, one of the seeds, in the knockout stage.

The top seed in the Women’s Singles groups is Rachael Iles, who recently made her international debut at WTT Youth Contender Vila Real in Portugal.

Rebecca Savage, who won the qualifying tournament last year, is the top-ranked player in Group 2 and among the other leading players in the groups is Alyssa Nguyen, who won the Under-17 national title at the same venue earlier this month – she is in the same group as No 1 veteran Sara Williams.

Eva Eccles, the top seed in Group 4 has experienced Finals Day – she was silver medallist in the Women’s Doubles alongside Sophie Earley last year – and there are plenty of other players who have previously been in the main draw.