Ahn Se-young: Semifinals Win & Badminton History Made

‘World’s Strongest’ Ahn Se-young won all three matches in the group stage of the World Tour Finals, a battle of kings, and advanced to the semifinals as the top player in the group.

Ahn Se-young, ranked No. 1 in the women’s singles world rankings, won a 2-1 (14-21, 21-5, 21-14) comeback victory over No. 4 Akine Yamaguchi (Japan) in the third match of Group A of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2025 Women’s Singles Group Stage held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 19th.

Ahn Se-young, who had confirmed her advance to the semifinals by defeating Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) 2-0 the previous day, finished the game in 47 minutes on this day. They gained momentum by winning all three matches in the group stage and advanced to the semifinals.

This tournament, in which the top 8 players in the World Tour rankings participate, is divided into groups A and B of 4 players and competes in the group stage, and the 1st and 2nd place in each group advance to the semifinals to determine the champion.

If Ahn Se-young, who has won 10 times this year alone, reaches the top of this tournament, she will tie the record for most wins in a single season with men’s singles player Kento Momota (Japan).

Ahn Se-young will clash with Group B’s second place winner on the 20th for a ticket to the finals.

On this day, Ahn Se-young faced Yamaguchi 11-11 in the first game, but gave up 5 runs and finished with 14-21.

The atmosphere changed from the second game. Ahn Se-young accumulated 6 points from the beginning, and even in the last minute, he scored 7 points in a row to take 2 games.

In game 3, they were ahead 15-14 and ended the game with 6 points.

Yamaguchi, who recorded 2 wins and 1 loss in the group stage, advanced to the semifinals in second place in Group A, following Ahn Se-young.

Reporter Kim Hee-woong