Thailand Open: P. V. Sindhu resumes quest for year's first title

After a runner-up finish at the Indonesia Open and a quarterfinal ouster from the Japan Open, P. V. Sindhu will aim to bag her first title of the year at the Thailand Open this week.

P. V. will begin her Thailand Open campaign against China's Han Yue on Tuesday.

Ace Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu has endured a tough fortnight. She finished runner-up at the Indonesia Open and then went on to lose in the Japan Open quarterfinal last week. And on both occasions, familiar foe Akane Yamaguchi turned out to be Sindhu’s nemesis.

However, she will look for a fresh start and aim to pocket her first title in seven months as she begins her Thailand Open campaign on Tuesday. Seeded fourth, Sindhu's first round encounter will see her face unseeded Chinese Han Yue, whom she easily overcame in the first round of Japan Open. Sindhu will face her first real test in the quarterfinal with a possible clash against sixth seed Ratchanok Intanon.

The other Indian in fray, Saina Nehwal, has been hampered by several injuries of late. Saina, seeded seventh here, was forced to withdraw from both the Indonesia and Japan Open on medical grounds and will take on a qualifier in the opening round.

In men’s singles, Shubhankar Dey will have a tough opening round clash against top seed Kento Momota of Japan, while B. Sai Pranneeth is up against Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen. If both the Indians manage to get past the first round, they will face each other next.

Fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth will face a qualifier, while H. S. Prannoy will be up against Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the opening round. Sameer Verma, seeded eighth, will face Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia, while Parupalli Kashyap will take on France’s Brice Leverdez.

Sourabh Verma and Ajay Jayaram will have to go through the qualifiers. While Sourabh will play top seed Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia in the first qualifying round, Jayaram will face Chinese Zhou Ze Qi.

In men’s doubles, two Indian pairs feature but only one among them will progress to the next round. The combinations of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will face each other in the opening round.

The lone Indian pair in women’s doubles -- Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy -- will be up against the Chinese duo of Li Wen Mei and Zheng Yu in the opening round.

In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy are drawn against the Japanese combination of Kohei Gondo and Ayane Kurihara, while the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ponnappa have a tough task at hand as they will lock horns with the fifth seeded pair of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia.