Sindhu draws An Se-young as Denmark Open begins in Odense

P.V. Sindhu will open her Denmark Open campaign against world No. 1 and defending champion An Se-young when the Super 750 tournament begins in Odense on Tuesday. Lakshya Sen also faces a difficult first-round match, against third seed Chou Tien Chen.

Sindhu has lost all 10 of her previous meetings with An. The two-time Olympic medallist arrives with mixed recent results: she won the Japan Open Super 750 title in July, then reached last week’s Arctic Open quarterfinals before losing to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in three games.

Sen seeks form against Chou

Sen has been hampered recently by a back injury and will be looking to recover from an early exit in the Asian Games individual competition. He beat Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the quarterfinals of the men’s team event but lost in the round of 32 of the individual event.

Earlier this year, Sen finished runner-up at the All England Championships for the second time, following his first final appearance in 2022. His opening opponent, Chou, beat India’s Ayush Shetty in three games at the Asian Games.

Shetty opens against Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan, who defeated him in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships. Kidambi Srikanth, the Denmark Open men’s singles champion in 2017, begins against France’s Arnaud Merkle.

More Indian singles players in the draw

India’s women’s singles entries also include Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita Chaliha, Devika Sihag and Unnati Hooda. Tanvi, who won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open in August, faces Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira; Ashmita, the Korea Masters Super 300 winner in August, meets Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova.

Devika opens against Thailand’s eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong, while Unnati plays China’s Han Qian Xi. Unnati reached the Asian Games quarterfinals last month after beating a top-10 opponent, before taking Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi to three games.

Doubles pairs prepare for opening tests

In men’s doubles, fifth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty face China’s He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu. The Indian pair will be seeking a stronger run after a first-round Asian Games exit, having won the Singapore Open Super 750 in May and the China Masters last month.

World Championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand open the women’s doubles against Chinese Taipei’s Yan Fei Chen and Hsieh Pei Shan. They reached the Asian Games quarterfinals before losing to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. India’s other women’s pair, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda, face China’s sixth seeds Bao Li Jing and Cao Zi Han.