Malaysia Open 2017 | Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in opposite half of draw

The 21-year-old Sindhu will start her campaign against teenager Chen Yufei and is likely to face 17-year-old Goh Jin Wei in the second round. Should Sindhu manage to get to the quarterfinals she will have to take on world No 1 Tzu-Ying, who holds a 6-3 head-to-head record against the Indian. If Sindhu passes the Taiwanese test, she will come up against either Sung Ji-Hyun or Sun Yu in the semifinals of the $600,000 event.

In the men's draw, both Ajay Jayaram and Sai Praneeth have been placed in the bottom half but chances of the two meeting appear slim because the latter will start his campaign against the legendary Lin Dan, who skipped the India Open to concentrate on this tournament. 

Jayaram will face Qiao Bin in the first round and a victory will see him face Viktor Axelsen in a rematch of the India Open clash that the Dane won in straight sets. Should Jayaram advance, he has a free road to the semifinals where Lin Dan will again show up against an Indian shuttler.

The qualifiers began today with Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa in the hunt for a mixed doubles spot in the main draw. The main tournament will start on Wednesday, April 5.