Sydney: She might be in red-hot form but defending champion Saina Nehwal will look to keep her guard up when she begins her campaign at the $750,000 Australian Open badminton tournament, which gets underway with the qualifiers, here on Tuesday.
A year back, Olympic bronze medallist Saina had beaten Spaniard Carolina Marin to clinch her first Superseries crown in 20 months.
Read: Defending champion Saina Nehwal seeded second in Australian Open
However, this year, Saina is coming into the tournament with some stellar performances which saw her clinch the India Superseries and Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold titles, a runners-up finish at the All England Championships and eventually becoming the first Indian to be ranked the World No.1.
Brimming with confidence, Saina will take on a qualifier in the opening round and is likely to clash with China’s Sun Yu, World No.9, in the second round. A clash with two-time All England Champion Shixian Wang is also likely on cards if Saina can cross the second round of the women’s singles competition.
