BWF Australian Open | PV Sindhu, Sameer Verma hopeful of strong showing in Australia

Indian tennis ace PV Sindhu will be on the hunt for her first title of the season at the Australia Open World Tour Super 300 tournaments begins with the qualifiers here Tuesday. The World number five reached the semifinals at India Open and Singapore Open. That came after a couple of quarter-final appearances at Indonesia and ABC but has failed to land a major title yet this season.

The Olympic silver medalist has faced a tough time with top players such as Carolina Marin, Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, China's He Bingjiao and Japan's Nozomi Okuhara. Sindhu, who had last played at the Sudirman Cup, participate in the qualifier in the opening round before mostly going up against Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.

Meanwhile, compatriot Sameer Verma will be gunning for revenge as he goes up against Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the opening round of the Australian Open. The Malaysian had earlier beaten Verma in the Sudirman Cup as India crashed out of the group stage.

Besides these two, the other Indian players at the tournament will include former Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, H S Prannoy and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap.