Last year’s winners of the India Open men’s doubles have changed partners, will they be able to make an impact with their new partners or will we see some local success with Rankireddy and Shetty?
The top prospects…
Seung Jae SEO is now partnered with Won Ho Kim who had an incredible Malaysia Open winning the title as an unseeded pair! His former partner Min Hyuk Kang now plays alongside Yong Jin. They had a much worse result in Malaysia with a second-round exit to the local pair ONG and TEO. In India Kang and Jin will have a tough fight against the Danish first seeds in the first round, it’s unlikely they will progress from that match. We feel Kim and SEO are a much better bet for the title.
Only half of the seeded pairs even progressed from the first round in Malaysia. We think something similar could happen in India as the competition is currently quite even. On their day any pair could win which makes it the most exciting category to watch right now for us.
The Danish first seeds Kim and Astrup fell in the first round in Kuala Lumpur. If they get out of the first round in India they would probably face the same Chinese Taipei pair again in the second round. This smells like the start of a spicy rivalry to us!
The Hometown favourites in Delhi?
The hometown boys Rankireddy and Shetty have a good draw in India. They fell at the SF in Malaysia taking a few good wins. We expect the Indians to do well in Delhi as they have avoided the most dangerous pairs in their draw.
The unseeded Chinese pair, Chen and Liu, featured in the Malaysia Open final. They are drawn against compatriots Xie and Zeng in the India Open first round. A tricky match but they have the upper hand on H2H. The chances are very high that they meet ranked or in form pairs getting to the final if they can win. We think it will be too much for them to repeat Malaysia in a tougher draw.
The other Chinese pairs really disappointed in Malaysia. This could easily happen again in India.
Goh and Izzuddin were beaten badly in the first round of the Malaysia Open by the unseeded Danes Lundgaard and Vestergaard. India should be the opportunity they need to put that right. They have the most favourable draw from all of the Malaysian pairs. They should meet the LEE brothers of Taipei in the Quarter-final.
Having said all this we need to pick a favourite to lift the India Open title. OUR MONEY IS ON RANKIREDDY AND SHETTY!
Our outside favourites at the India Open!
We are always hoping a relatively unknown or ignored pair can shake things up. The Men’s doubles will be no different in India.
The Lee brothers from Taipei had a promising Malaysia open going under the radar. They were knocked out in the QF by the winners KIM and SEO. They could have another good tournament with their draw against fellow Taipei pair LEE and YANG. We expect that will be followed by LIU and YANG in the second round. They should be familiar with their compatriots and have an edge to proceed beyond their Malaysia Open result.
- Malaysia Open Review and Results 2025 – did our predictions hold? - January 15, 2025
- India Open 2025 – Women’s Singles Draw and Predictions - January 15, 2025
- India Open 2025 – Women’s Doubles Draw and Predictions! - January 13, 2025
