HONG KONG, Nov 11: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to continue their sensational run but the focus will be on PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal as they seek to avoid another early exit, at the Hong Kong Open, starting here on Tuesday.
The World No. 9 Indian pair has been simply outstanding in their last two outings as they finished runners-up at French Open and then made it to the China Open semifinals last week in men�s doubles. Expectations will be high from the Indian duo as they open against Japanese combination of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi at the USD 400,000 meet.
For Sindhu and Saina, it has been few tough weeks as the duo made early exits from a series of tournaments since the World Championships in August. Besides the French Open quarterfinal finish, Sindhu, who had won the World Championships gold in August, and Indonesia Masters champion Saina have either lost in the first or second round.
Last week, Sindhu went down in a three-game match against Taiwanese Pai Yu Po, while Saina lost in straight games to China�s Cai Yan Yan � both in the first round at China Open Super 750 tournament.
Interestingly, Saina will face the same opponent at Hong Kong and she will be itching to set the record straight against the World No. 22 Chinese.
Sixth seed Sindhu will square off against Korea�s World No. 19 Kim Ga Eun in the opening round.
In men�s singles, World No. 10 Kidambi Srikanth, who has reached the finals at India Open and two quarterfinals at Malaysia and Singapore in April, will face the unenviable task of taming the two-time world champion and current World No. 1 Kento Momota in the first round. � PTI
