Saina eyes season's 1st title, top-5 return ahead of China SS

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal of India will begin the hunt for her first title of the season and also eye a return to the top-5 when the China Open Super Series Premier starts with the qualifiers in Shanghai from Tuesday.
The 23-year-old Indian could not defend her title at the Denmark Open and also suffered an early exit from French Open. The dip in performance reflected in her ranking as she slipped to number seven late last month.
Troubled by injuries and inconsistent form, Saina will now open her campaign against a qualifier in the China Open, a tournament which she missed out last year.

The Hyderabadi had to withdraw from last years' China Open due to a knee injury and will be hoping to make a mark this year. The USD 350,000 China Open is a Super Series Premier category tournament and is the fifth and last Super Series Premier Tournament of the year.
However, Saina will have her task cut out as she will probably face defending champion and top seed Li Xuerei of China if she manages to reach the quarterfinals.
Li, who will face unseeded Japanese Kaori Imabeppu in the tournament opener, is the top ranked women's player in the world at present. The reigning Olympic champion is in good touch this year, winning silver at the World Championships in August.

Li is widely expected to defend her China Open title and Saina will have to be in top form in order to stage an upset.
If the Indian does manage to get past that hurdle, she will probably have to play either fourth seed Ji Hyun Sung of South Korea or fifth seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in the semifinals.
Unseeded Arundhati Pantawane, the other Indian in the women's singles, will face another unseeded opponent in Eriko Hirose of Japan. The Nagpur shuttler is in fine form and has reached a career best ranking of 47 after good performances at the Denmark Open and French Open.