Shingo Kunieda will bid for a fourth title of the year at the Japan Open - an ITF Wheelchair Tennis Super Series event ©Getty Images

Shingo Kunieda will bid for a fourth title of the year when the double Paralympic singles gold medallist competes at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Japan Open in Iizuka this week.

The Japanese star arrives at this ITF Wheelchair Tennis Super Series event having won the recent Cajun Classic in Louisiana last month.

The 35-year-old, who claimed singles Paralympic gold medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, has also won the Melbourne Open and Georgia Open Wheelchair Championships so far in 2019.

Kunieda, the top seed in the men's singles at the Japan Open, is expected to be the one to beat once again. 

He has been given a bye into the second round, where he will face either compatriot Hiroyuki Takeda or Malaysia's Mohammad Bin Yusuf.

Yui Kamiji will also hope to deliver glory for Japan at the tournament in Iizuka ©Getty Images
Yui Kamiji will also hope to deliver glory for Japan at the tournament in Iizuka ©Getty Images

Elsewhere in the first round, Gordon Reid will face British team-mate Alfie Hewett in a repeat of the final at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Japan will also have high hopes of success in the women's singles, where Yui Kamiji is the second seed behind Dutch player Diede de Groot.

De Groot will take on either Thailand's Sakhorn Khanthasit or Nalani Buob of Switzerland in round two, while Kamiji will go up against compatriot Mie Fukuzawa or Switzerland's Simona Rusnak.