Saina Nehwal starts favourite for Malaysia Open

Saina Nehwal is favourite to win her first Superseries title of the year, as she is top-seeded in the women’s singles at the Malaysia Open which begins today.

The World No.3 will not have to contend with any of the Chinese as they have not entered the women’s singles. There is only limited Chinese participation in the other events.

Saina takes on Singaporean Gu Juan first. The toughest player in her quarter is Japanese veteran Eriko Hirose, although the young Japanese Nozomi Okuhara too might land there instead. Her semifinal opponent is likely to be either Tine Baun or Tai Tzu Ying, the exciting teenager from Chinese Taipei. Sung Ji Hyun of Korea, who won the Korea Open on Sunday, is a likely finalist. The draw doesn’t look too formidable for the Indian, but she will need to be at her best.

In the men’s singles, Ajay Jayaram plays French Open champion Daren Liew (Malaysia), while P Kashyap takes on Takuma Ueda (Japan). Sourabh Verma plays a qualifier. Kashyap has a tricky draw; if he gets into the second round, he might face Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark.

Lee Chong Wei is obviously the favourite for yet another Malaysian title, after he comfortably won the Korea Open on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Anand Pawar lost his first round qualification match, but Guru Sai Dutt and Sai Praneeth were still in the hunt for qualifying spots.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar are in the main draw of the men’s doubles. Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre and Sikki Reddy/Aparna Balan in the women’s doubles, and Pranaav Chopra/Sikki Reddy and Tarun Kona/Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed are the others in the main draw.