Set victory after 8 months of confrontation… Women’s doubles Baek Hana-Lee Yu-rim also won runner-up
Korean women’s badminton ace Ahn Se-young (21, Samsung Life Insurance) lost to “old enemy” Akane Yamaguchi (26, Japan) in the Malaysian Open final, the first tournament of the new year, and finished runner-up.
World No. 4 Ahn Se-young lost 1-2 (21-12 19-21 11-21) to world No. 1 Yamaguchi in the 2023 Malaysian Open women’s singles final held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 15th (Korean time).
In the first set, Ahn Se-young succeeded in overtaking the initiative by showing off light movements and exquisite distance.
Yamaguchi, who was on the defensive, requested an in-out challenge in 11-15 and 12-20, but Ahn Se-young’s score was recognized as it was.
In the second set, Yamaguchi, who had improved his performance, took the initiative and Ahn Se-young followed.
Ahn Se-young, who had been dragged 2-7, tied the score at 8-8 and engaged in a close match until 17-17, but in the end, she could not bring the lead.
Entering the third set, Ahn Se-young was clearly tired.
It seemed to be affected by passing both the quarterfinals and semifinals after a full set.
In particular, with 6 consecutive runs conceded at 10-12, the pendulum of the match tilted significantly, and the game ended 11-21.
The championship was unfortunately missed, but Ahn Se-young showed improvement by winning a set victory against the world’s top Yamaguchi.
Ahn Se-young suffered 0-2 shutout losses in all three recent encounters with Yamaguchi.
It was the first set victory in about eight months after winning the semifinals at the World Women’s Team Badminton Championships in May of last year.
Meanwhile, women’s doubles Baek Ha-na (MG Saemaul Geumgo) and Lee Yu-rim (Samsung Life Insurance) also knelt down to world No.
Baek Ha-na and Lee Yoo-rim, who gave a 0-4 lead at the start of the first set, tried to ignite the pursuit, but were unable to reduce the score difference.
The second set was relatively close, and the break was 9-11, but there were many cases where the attack went off the line or got into the net.
In the end, while giving 10 points to the opponent in the second half of the set, he only gained 1 point and gave up the championship.
The previous day, Seo Seung-jae (Army Sports Corps) – Kang Min-hyeok (Samsung Life Insurance) in the men’s doubles were defeated 0-2 (18-21 17-21) by world No. the contest was over.
/yunhap news
