Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Lakshya Sen will lead the Indian challenge at the Saarlorlux Open Super Tour 100 tournament beginning here on Tuesday.
Saina will be looking to add to her title wins for the year with her last victory coming way back in January at the Indonesia Masters.
Top seed in the women’s singles category, 29-year-old Saina will start her campaign against Germany’s Fabienne Deprez. She is also one of only two players in the draw who are ranked within the top 10 of the world rankings. The other is Olympic champion Carolina Marin, who incidentally is the player Saina beat in the final of the Indonesia Masters when the Spaniard pulled out due to an injury.
Saina had broken a string of first-round exits at the French Open by reaching the quarterfinal, where she lost to Korea’s teen star and eventual champion An Se Young. Marin also suffered at the hands of Young, losing to the 17-year-old in the final and settling for a second-place finish in Paris.
Lakshya Sen has received a bye in the first round and will begin his campaign against the winner of the first-round match between Eetu u Heino and Elias Bracke.
He will be looking to win his third title this season, having already secured wins at the Belgian International and the Dutch Open.
The other Indian players in the men’s singles category are Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath and Rahul Bharadwaj.