World-class badminton star An Se-young faces a potential semifinal showdown against Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki at the 2026 Yeosu Victor Korea Open, as tournament draws place the two athletes on a collision course in Yeosu. The tournament runs from November 3 to November 8 at the Jinnam Gymnasium in Yeosu.
Opening Rounds and Seeding Setup in Yeosu
Top-seeded An enters the women’s singles bracket facing Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova in her opening match. Advancing further through the bracket sets up a potential quarterfinal clash for the world number one against eighth-seeded Riko Gunji of Japan.
The Miyazaki Semifinal Pathway
Should the early rounds progress according to seeding, the 20-year-old Japanese star Tomoka Miyazaki waits in the semifinals. Miyazaki opens her tournament against Chinese Taipei’s Huang Ching-ping. Miyazaki enters the Yeosu bracket looking to shift a lopsided historical head-to-head record against the South Korean champion.
Historical Head-to-Head and Recent Form
Previous encounters between the two players heavily favor the South Korean. An holds an 8-0 record against Miyazaki, most recently defeating the Japanese competitor 2-0 (21-17, 21-6) in the final of the China Masters this past September. Miyazaki experienced a difficult conclusion at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in late September, where Japan fell 0-3 to China in the women’s team final. Miyazaki dropped her third singles match against Chen Yufei 0-2 (10-21, 11-21), a defeat that left the young athlete visibly emotional over her team contribution.
CLASH OF CLANS Arctic Open 2026 powered by YONEXWS – QF17 21 21 🇯🇵Nozomi OKUHARA🏅21 17 19 🇯🇵Tomoka MIYAZAKI🕚 in 70 minutes
Yamaguchi Anchors the Opposite Bracket
On the opposite side of the singles draw, second-seeded Akane Yamaguchi of Japan begins her campaign against Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy. Because Yamaguchi and An occupy separate halves of the tournament bracket, a rematch of the recent Asian Games final—where An defeated Yamaguchi 2-0 (21-17, 21-9) in fifty-two minutes—can only materialize if both players advance to the championship match.
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