World badminton world number one An Se-young recorded 71 wins and just one defeat across 72 matches this season, compiling a 98.6 percent win rate, according to Daily25.
The 24-year-old South Korean singles player captured her 11th tournament title of the year on November 8, 2026, by defeating world number two Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 at the Korea Open in Yeosu, South Korea. Daily25 reported that An secured set scores of 21-12, 15-21, and 21-16 to successfully defend her title against the Japanese opponent who handed her a defeat in the previous year’s final.
An’s lone defeat of the 2026 season occurred in March at the All England Open, where she lost the final to China’s Wang Zhiyi. Following that loss, she strung together a 55-match winning streak across multiple international competitions, including the Malaysia Open, India Open, Asian Championships, World Championships, Asian Games, and the French Open.
With her victory at the Korea Open, An became the first singles player in badminton history to claim 11 tournament titles in two consecutive seasons. Japan’s Kento Momota previously won 11 titles in a single season in 2019, a milestone An matched in 2025 before repeating the feat.
Daily25 compared An’s dominant run to Martina Navratilova’s historic 1983 tennis season, in which the American player finished with 86 wins and one loss for a 98.9 percent win rate. Navratilova collected 167 career singles titles and nine Wimbledon crowns during her career.
While tennis and badminton feature different tournament structures and competitive schedules, both athletes established a level of sustained dominance where defeat became an statistical anomaly rather than an expected outcome. An won 11 of the 12 individual tournaments she entered this season.
Novak Djokovic saved two championship points against Roger Federer during the 2019 Wimbledon men’s singles final before winning the 4-hour and 57-minute match. Similarly, An overcame an 11-5 deficit in the final game of the Denmark Open to secure the title.
An’s results place her among athletes who altered the expected boundaries of achievement in their disciplines. She enters the BWF World Tour Finals scheduled for December 9 to 13, 2026, in Hangzhou, China, with an opportunity to secure her 12th title of the year.
Daily25 noted that An’s demanding schedule created accumulated fatigue and lingering stress on her ankles and knees, prompting internal deliberation regarding her participation at the Korea Open.
Her upcoming campaign in Hangzhou represents her final scheduled appearance of the 2026 competitive calendar.
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