A breeze for top seeds Tan and Lai

PETALING JAYA: The Indian Open title is for them to lose but mixed doubles pair Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing are refusing to look too far ahead.

The world No. 10 and the tournament’s top seeds will instead take it one game at a time in their bid to end a dreadful four-year title drought.

The pair have yet to add further honours to their names since winning the Malaysian Masters in 2017.

The closest they ever came to a title was when they emerged runners-up at the 2019 Singapore Open.

Kian Meng-Pei Jing landed in New Delhi as the hot favourites as they are the only world top 10 pair in the fray.

The next best are Russia’s world No. 19 Rodion Alimov-Alina Davletova and compatriots Chen Tang Jie-Peck Yen Wei (No. 40).

“Hopefully we can seize this very good opportunity to grab the title. It’s been super long since we captured one!” said Pei Jing after they powered to a 21-10, 21-11 win over India’s R. Pratik-K. Kanika in the first round yesterday.

“Regardless of how we’re touted as the favourites, we still need to bring our best game to the court in order to end our drought.”

Kian Meng-Pei Jing should beat another Indian pair J. Siddharth.B. Megha Morchana in the second round tomorrow to set up a potential quarter-final encounter with sixth seeds Dhruv Kapilla-N. Sikki Reddy.

“I think the real test begins in the last eight,” said Pei Jing.

Tang Jie-Yen Wei also got off to a solid start when they whipped home pair M. R. Arjun-Treesa Jolly 21-11, 21-6 in 22 minutes.

They will meet another Indian duo, K. Sai Pratheek-G. P. Gayathri, in the last 16.

If things go according to script, Kian Meng-Pei Jing and Tang Jie-Yen Wei should make it an all-Malaysian affair in the last four.

In men’s doubles, World Championships bronze medallists Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi opened their campaign with a 21-19, 21-14 win over India’s P.S. Ravikrishna-U. Sankar Prasad.

However, newly teamed up independent duo Lim Khim Wah-Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub failed to win on their debut going down 21-18, 17-21, 15-21 to India’s M.R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapila.