World No.6 Ratchanok Intanon begins her campaign at the Dubai World Superseries Finals against No.5 Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea today.
In the other Group B match of the season-ending tournament, top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying faces No.8 Chen Yufei of China.
In Group A of the women's singles are No.2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, No.3 PV Sindhu of India and No.9 He Bingjiao of China.
The top two players of each group advance to the semi-finals.
Ratchanok have played Sung 16 times with the Korean winning nine.
However, Ratchanok won in their last meeting in the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open in October as the Thai went on to claim the title.
In the men's singles, South Korea' Son Wan-Ho, Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long and Olympic champion Chen Long from China are in Group A.
Group B features India's Srikanth Kidambi, China's Shi Yuqi, Taiwan's Chou Tien-chen and Viktor Axelsen from Denmark.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo were named the best male players of the year while China's Chen Qingchen, who is No.1 in doubles and mixed doubles, won the women's award. Thailand's Amnouy Wetwithan claimed the female para-badminton player of the year award, while South Korea's Kim Jung-Jun took the male title.