New Delhi: In what would be one of the main attraction for fans, top women shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu are expected to face off in the semifinals of the India Open Superseries that gets underway at the Siri Fort Sport Complex here on April 1.
But before the two home stars face each other, they will have to cross a Chinese hurdle each.
Saina and Sindhu have been placed in the second half of the draw, that also has the likes of Chinese World No.2 Wang Yihan and No.3 Wang Shixian besides Korean sixth seed Sung Ji Hyun.
Eighth seed Saina will kick off her campaign against Austria’s Simone Prutsch and her first real challenge should come at the last eight stage where she is expected to meet former world champion and third seed Wang.World No.9 Sindhu would face second seed Wang Shixian in the opening round.
However, Sindhu would take heart from the fact that she had not lost to Wang in their previous two meetings and it would be the Chinese who would be under pressure going in.
Crossing that hurdle, Sindhu may have to overcome the challenges of Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi or Korean sixth seed Sung before a possible face-off with Saina.
The men’s singles stars have no luck as almost everyone is expected to face tough opponents in the opening round.
