Hangzhou champion Rutuja Bhosale now partners Yuki Bhambri as the second seeds, with Ankita Raina and Sriram Balaji seeded fourth. The two Indian pairs are in opposite halves of the draw, so they can only meet in the final.
NAGOYA — India are the defending champions in mixed doubles. In Hangzhou, Rutuja Bhosale and Rohan Bopanna came back from a set down to beat Chinese Taipei’s Huang Tsung-hao and Liang En-shuo 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the final. Bopanna is not in Nagoya. Rutuja returns with Yuki Bhambri, and the pair are seeded second. Ankita Raina and Sriram Balaji are the fourth seeds. As in the other events, both losing semifinalists receive bronze, so a quarter-final win guarantees a medal.
Yuki Bhambri / Rutuja Bhosale (2)
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: This could be the hardest early match either Indian pair faces. The likely opponents are Chinese Taipei’s unseeded Tseng Chun-hsin and Hsieh Su-wei. Hsieh is a former doubles world No. 1 with nine Grand Slam titles. The other possible opponents are Iran’s Ali Yazdani and Mandegar Farzami.
Quarter-final (for a medal): The eighth seeds are Indonesia’s Christopher Rungkat and Aldila Sutjiadi, who mixed doubles gold at Jakarta-Palembang 2018. In the quarter-finals of that event they beat India’s Ankita Raina and Rohan Bopanna in a match tie-break. The other teams in this section are China (Wu Yibing / Guo Hanyu), Nepal (Nish Shrestha / Swastika Bista) and Mongolia (Badrakh Munkhbaatar / Marlgoo Chogsomjav).
Semi-final: The two seeded teams are Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro and Peangtarn Plipuech (3), and Hong Kong’s Wong Tsz Fu and Wong Hong Yi (6). The unseeded teams include two strong ones. Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko is paired with Anna Danilina, a mixed doubles bronze medallist in 2018. Japan’s Daylan Hara Friend is paired with Ena Shibahara, the 2022 French Open mixed doubles champion.
Sriram Balaji / Ankita Raina (4)
Round 1: Unlike the second seeds, they have no bye. They open against Hong Kong’s Kairan Creer Thompson and Eudice Chong.
Round 2: Korea’s Shin Woobin and Ku Yeonwoo, or Thailand’s Thanapet Chanta and Anchisa Chanta.
Quarter-final (for a medal): Most likely Japan’s fifth seeds, Yusuke Kushihara and Shuko Aoyama. Aoyama is a former doubles world No. 4 and reached the semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon this year. The Philippines’ Francis Alcantara, a mixed doubles bronze medallist in Hangzhou, is also in this section with Shaira Hope Rivera. The remaining teams are from Iran and Nepal.
Semi-final: The seeded teams in the top quarter are Chinese Taipei’s Ho Chenjui and Chan Hao-Ching (1), and China’s Zhang Tianhui and Jiang Xinyu (7). Chan also won a mixed doubles bronze in Hangzhou.
The verdict
The draw has placed the most dangerous players early. Yuki Bhambri and Rutuja Bhosale will probably have to beat Hsieh in their first match, then the 2018 champions for a medal.Balaji and Raina face a challenging route, with Japan’s Yusuke Kushihara and Shuko Aoyama likely standing between them and a semifinal spot. If both Indian pairs reach the final, India will be assured of the mixed doubles gold medal.