Japan Open: It's P. V. Sindhu vs Nozomi Okuhara and Saina Nehwal vs Carolina Marin
Tokyo: Newly-crowned Korea Open champion PV Sindhu Will take on World Champion Nozomi Okuhara in the second round of the Japan Open Super series after eding out edge past Minatsu Mitani 12-21 21-15 21-17 in the first round on Wednesday.
Sindhu and Okuhara will face off for the third time in last three tournaments. The duo had battled for an hour and 50 minutes at the finals of Glasgow World Championship, before fighting it out for 83 minutes at Korea Open final last Sunday.
Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will take on reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the second next round. Saina had skipped the Korea Open due to a slight thigh strain took 39 minutes to dispatch Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-17 21-9 in the women's singles opening round.Saina has a 4-3 record against the Spaniard, having lost thrice in the last four meetings.
Kidambi Srikanth also made positive starts to their campaign, producing superlative performance to overcome China's Tian Houwei 21-15 12-21 21-11 to improve his 1-6 record against the World No. 10. "The conditions were good here. It was a tough match and was a close one. I always wanted to stay focused and it worked well for me today," Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Rio Olympics, told PTI.
The eighth seeded Indian, who had reached the finals at Singapore Open, will face Hong Kong's Hu Yun next. The World No. 8 Indian has a 2-2 head-to-head count against Yun, having lost twice in 2015.
