World number two Akane Yamaguchi and third-ranked Wang Zhiyi will meet in the women’s singles final of the 2026 BWF Kumamoto Masters on Sunday.
The match follows the withdrawal of top-ranked An Se-young from the Super 500 tournament, leaving the title open to the field’s top seeds.
Akane Yamaguchi secured her place in the final on Saturday after her opponent, world number four Chen Yufei, retired from the match. Yamaguchi dropped the first game 18-21 but responded by winning the second 21-8.
She led 11-4 in the third game when Chen withdrew from the competition. With this victory, Yamaguchi extended her head-to-head advantage over Chen to 19 wins and 11 losses, earning a chance to compete for the title in front of her home fans.
Wang Zhiyi reached the final with a straight-games victory over Tomoka Miyazaki. The Chinese player defeated the Japanese prospect 21-10, 21-15. Wang’s path to the final included a quarterfinal win against Nozomi Okuhara, where she triumphed in three games.
The absence of world number one An Se-young has created a vacancy at the top of the podium for the tournament held in Japan. An, who has maintained a dominant presence in recent international badminton, did not participate in this event.
For Yamaguchi, the final offers a chance to secure a title on home soil. The Japanese player reached the final of the previous Korea Open but finished as runner-up after a loss to An.
Competing as the tournament’s number one seed, Yamaguchi now faces the opportunity to claim the title in Kumamoto. According to OSEN, a new champion will be crowned on a stage where the “badminton empress” An Se-young is absent.
Wang, the second seed, aims to solidify her standing among the world’s top-three players. After defeating several Japanese opponents, including Miyazaki and Okuhara, Wang enters the final seeking her own victory in the absence of the world’s top-ranked player.
While the winner of the Kumamoto Masters will earn a major title, the match determines the current leader among the remaining field rather than challenging the world number one ranking. Both Yamaguchi and Wang are established top-tier athletes, but the final outcome will not involve a direct match against An.
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