Some of the world's top-ranked female match racers are coming to try and take Paula Lewin's crown.

The Bermudian - who has lifted the International Women's Match Racing Championship here for the last two years - will have to withstand a challenge from the likes of Frenchwoman Claire Leroy, American Betsy Alison and last year's runner-up Jenny Axhede of Sweden.

All three are currently ranked in the top ten with Leroy at number two and Alison and Axhede, seventh and eighth respectively. Lewin, who will be looking to rebound from a terrible Olympics in Yngling, is ranked tenth.

This weekend's event - a qualifier for next week's King Edward VII Gold Cup - will be held in Hamilton Harbour and could well be a rematch of the 2004 ISAF Women's World Match Racing Championship.

All of these women finished in the top ten at the June championship in Annapolis, Marlyand.

Alison, five-time Yachtswomen of the Year, was second followed by Leroy and Lewin. Axhede was ninth. They know each other well and racing could go any way with all boasting excellent teams. No doubt it will come down to who sails fast, smart and penalty-free.

Three other skippers in this Grade One event are Klaartje Zuiderbaan of the Netherlands(ranked 23rd), Giulia Conti of Italy (ranked 26th) and Japan's Kuko Sakudo-Horikawa who was unranked in the latest ISAF standings. She is a relative newcomer to match racing as a skipper though she has sailed in international events as crew.

The final skipper to join the women's line-up is American Cory Sertl who received the final slot after winning last week's US Women's Match Racing Championship. Sertl will be bringing an all-star team including Pease Glaser, Jody Swanson, Suzy Leech and Debbie Probst.

Sertl has not done much match racing for the last three years as she concentrated on training for the Olympics as crew for Swanson in the Yngling. She and Swanson crewed for Elizabeth Kratzig (an unseeded Gold Cup skipper this year) in the women's regatta last year.

Rechristened the Cicada International Women's Match Racing Championship - given a new title-sponsorship deal with Cicada (a global provider of financial data technology) - this event will run concurrently with the Gold Cup's preliminary unseeded rounds, starting on Saturday.

The eight women's teams will sail International One Design (IOD) boats in the two-tiered event. A preliminary round-robin stage will be followed by the semi-finals and the October 19 final. Both the semis and final are knockout format decided by the first team to score two points. The winner and runners-up will advance to the Gold Cup proper.

Every team will take home a portion of this year's $25,000 prize money with the winners pocketing $8,000. Second through eighth will receive $4050, $3400, $2900, $2400, $1900, $1400 and $950 respectively.