India Open 2025 – Women’s Singles Draw and Predictions

It’s an exciting time in the women’s singles to see who will come second to An Se Young. Her grip on women’s singles is tight and we can’t see that changing in India. having said that, due to the retirements and injuries from last season we could find some new talent stepping up to take on their positions.

Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi and Chen Yu Fei are all out with no dates for return. We know it is likely all of these players could never return to the court, a huge blow to the sport and women’s singles. Busanan Ongbamrungpham and Supinada Katathong have withdrawn with injuries.

As we know our pick is once again for An Se Young the badminton prodigy, we will turn our attention to the outside favourites. Players that could have an unexpected run or cause some upsets in the competition.

The underdogs to look out for…

Our first pick would be Pornpicha CHOEIKEEWONG of Thailand. Ranked at 38 in the world she meets Miyazaki of Japan in the first round who is ranked 32 places above her, the steady Thai player has a 2-2 H2H with both wins coming last year. Her draw seems favourable and she had a great Malaysia open finishing 3rd.

Ratchanok Intanon has also been showing some really good signs. For us she poses the biggest threat to An Se Young who she has on her side of the draw. An Se Young does have an 8-1 H2H lead the last 3 matches have all been 3 sets. An unlikely one but a hopeful one.

Our third consideration for one to watch is the 26-year-old Natsuki Nidaira of Japan. She had a good 2024 season with numerous QF finishes at big tournaments as well as a 3rd place finish at the Indonesia Masters and winning the US Open. Along the way she picked up victories against top players Katethong, Wardani, Intanon, Beiwan Zhang, Ongbamrungphan and Aya Ohori. This would indicate she has a good level and is capable of beating all of the middle-ranked players. India could be the place she pushes beyond the quarter-final She has a tough route to a semi-final. She would likely need to beat Gregoria Tunjung and PV Sindhu just to meet An Se Young in the semifinal.

If we were forced to choose a prospect to back in India it would be Choeikeewong of Thailand!

Could the local girls give the crowd something to cheer about?

With 5 Indian women in the draw they have a chance. The star girl PV Sindhu had a very noticeable drop off last season. Only one title at the Syed Modi 300 event. This would indicate to us that she is unlikely to make any significant run for the title in India.

The next best opportunity for success sits with Malvika Bansod, the 23-year-old had a good 2024 season. She picked up a silver medal at the Hylo Open in Germany while also claiming victories over Tunjung and Gilmor in the China Open. She has an outside shot but will likely lose in the first round to Han Yue who she lost to in the 2nd round of the Malaysian Open last week.

AAkarshi Kashyap will also be in the draw however she found it difficult to get out of the first round in most tournaments last season. We think it is very unlikely that Kashyap will get out of the first round in Delhi as well.

The established players are joined by two rising stars for India, Anupama UPADHYAYA who is 19, and Rakshitha Sree SANTHOSH RAMRAJ who is 17. Upadhyaya lost in Malaysia last week but did have some good results in lower-ranked tournaments last season. Santhosh Ramraj had a similar season in 2024, finding her feet at the lower-ranked tournaments with some good results. Neither player has any results that suggest they could shock people in Delhi. This is surely just an experience for them at this point.

Our conclusion? No gold coming for India in the women’s singles and probably not for the whole season.