Ahn Se-young & Wang Zhi-yi: Badminton Wins & Dominance

[스타뉴스 | 김명석 기자]

Ahn Se-young roars. /AFPBBNews=News1

Ahn Se-young (24, Samsung Life Insurance)’s dominance continues this year.

Ahn Se-young (No. 1 in the world rankings), the world’s best badminton player, reached the top without any upset in the first competition of the year. Ahn Se-young defeated world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi (China) 2-0 (21-15, 24-22) in the women’s singles final of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 Malaysia Open held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 11th (Korean time).

Ahn Se-young, who won 11 games last year alone and rewrote history, including the most wins in a single season, the highest winning percentage of all time (94.8%), and the highest accumulated prize money of all time ($1,003,715), rose to the top in the first competition held this year and reaffirmed her position as the world’s best.

With this win, Ahn Se-young achieved her third consecutive victory in this competition, following 2024 and 2025. Although it is a match between the world number one and number two, he continued his strong streak of nine consecutive wins against Wang Zhiyi, who had an overwhelming advantage last year by winning all eight games. His overall record is 17 wins and 4 losses.

Ahn Se-young, who had been dragged down to 1-6 by giving up 5 consecutive points at the beginning of the first game, immediately scored 4 points and ignited the chase, making the score 8-8. Afterwards, when Wang Ziyi ran away, Ahn Seyoung followed up and fought back with a score of 11-11, but Wang Ziyi was wrong and succeeded in her first comeback with a score of 12-11.

Once Ahn Se-young gained momentum, there was no hesitation. They scored 5 more points and ran away to 17-11. Wang Ziyi tried to change the mood by winning two points, but Ahn Se-young did not waver. With a 19-15 lead, they scored two points and won the first game with a thrilling comeback win.

In the beginning of the second game, Wang Ziyi set the tone by scoring three points first. Ahn Se-young also did not lose concentration and immediately started chasing, immediately tying the score. Afterwards, when Wang Ziyi ran away, An Se-young did not back down and immediately chased after him, turning the game around 8-7.

However, unlike the first game, Ahn Se-young was unable to maintain the momentum. They gave up 7 runs and fell to 8-14. Immediately after allowing 3 runs with only an out, he bowed his back and could not hide his disappointment, and eventually the gap widened to 13-19.

Seyoung Ahn did not give up. Wang Ziyi did not miss the opportunity to waver and launched a fierce attack, eventually tying the score at 19-19. Wang Ziyi had difficulty breaking Ahn Se-young’s momentum, but after a fierce rally, Ahn Se-young tied the score at 20-20 again, leading to a deuce.

In the deuce battle, when Wang Ziyi was off balance, Ahn Se-young tied the game again, but Wang Ziyi’s attack failed to pass the net, and Ahn Se-young turned it over to 23-22. Afterwards, Ahn Se-young roared after completing the final championship point after a fierce rally with Wang Ziyi.