Hong Kong' Annie Au will be back to defend her crown when the Clare Valley Australian Open squash championships are held in the South Australian wine growing town of Clare from July 14-19.
Au enjoyed a breakthrough victory when she came from two games down against top seed Kasey Brown in a thrilling finale to last year's tournament.
The 20-year-old entered the 2008 event as a rank outsider, but since then she has climbed to number 18 in the world and will be one of the favourites for this year's title.
Trying to stop her will be Brown, the 2006 champion and runner up in 2007 and 2008.
Brown, the 23-year-old from Taree in New South Wales, is the world number 13 and will be desperate to add her name to the famous trophy for a second time.
However, both women could be upstaged by the in-form Donna Urquhart, who claimed the Australian Closed title last weekend.
Urquhart has won two tournaments in 2009, following her success at the Top End Open in Darwin in May, and will go into the Australian Open full of confidence.
Other prominent entries so far include Queensland's Lisa Camilleri, rising New Zealand star Joelle King and Victoria's Amelia Pittock.
The international flavour of the tournament will also be boosted by an appearance from Czech player Olga Ertlova.
Ertlova, the world number 66 from Prague, is making her first trip to Australia.
The men's draw is shaping as one of the strongest in years, with nine top 50 players on the entry list.
The highest ranked player to have entered so far is Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee (world number 14), and he is joined by Australian pair Stewart Boswell (20) and Cameron Pilley (22), Egypt's Tarek Momen (27), Indian Saurav Ghosal (31), Englishman Tom Richards (33), 2008 runner-up Kashif Shuja from New Zealand (41), Hobart's Aaron Frankcomb (42) and Frenchman Stephane Galifi (45).
Entries close this week.
