Kim Won-ho & Seo Seung-jae: Semifinals Bound | 3-Win Streak

The last one was also a victory. The ‘golden combination’ Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae (Samsung Life Insurance) easily passed the group stage with 3 consecutive wins, ranked first in the group, and advanced to the semifinals of the finals.

Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, ranked No. 1 in the badminton men’s doubles world rankings, won with a set score of 2-1 (25-23 14-21 21-19) against Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong and Kai Un Tee in the final match of Group A of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2025 men’s doubles group stage held in Hangzhou, China on the 19th. Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, who had previously defeated both the Taiwanese and Indonesian teams, even defeated the Malaysian team and advanced to the semifinals with three consecutive wins and first place in their group.

Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae had a difficult start as they lost four points in a row as soon as the first set began, but gradually began to find their pace as time went by. After some back and forth, they reached the interval trailing 9-11.

After a short break, the two started to gain strength again. From 10-14, he scored 6 consecutive points to turn the game around to 16-14. The opponent also tenaciously followed suit and tied the score at 16-16. Afterwards, the close match that continued with back and forth continued to 20-20, ultimately leading to a deuce match. And at 23-23, Seo Seung-jae’s powerful smash struck the opponent’s body and took the set point, and then Seo Seung-jae hit the court with another smash to win the first set.

The second set was also dominated by the opponent from the beginning. Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, who started uneasily behind by 3-7, showed their potential again and won 3 points in a row, creating a close match. However, the difference widened again, reaching 6-10, and eventually reached the interval with the score pushed to 8-11.

Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, who were playing a difficult game as their opponents continued to maintain their pace even after the interval, gave up two points in a row at 14-18 and were pushed to the set point, and Seo Seung-jae’s return went off the line, allowing the set score to be tied at 1-1.

Unlike the previous two sets, the third set was tightly played with points being exchanged. Then, at 5-5, they scored 3 points in a row, including an opponent’s mistake, widening the gap to 8-5. Afterwards, he was shaken by the opponent’s sharp attack and was chased by one point, but Seo Seung-jae’s trademark left-hand smash hit the court and broke off the opponent’s pursuit, and this time he went into the interval with an 11-8 lead.

Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, who calmly continued their lead even after the interval, scored two points in a row to make it 15-12 and run away to 17-12 to take the win. Afterwards, they were shaken by the opponent’s fierce pursuit and faced a crisis as they were trailed by 1 point at 18-17, but with the match point first at 20-19, the opponent’s attack escaped and the game ended with difficulty.

The two, who teamed up for the first time in January of this year, started racing with tremendous momentum from the start. This year, he succeeded in winning a total of 10 of the 16 international competitions, including the World Championships. If Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho also win this competition, they will tie Ahn Se-young for the most wins in a single season. In particular, in the case of Seo Seung-jae, in addition to Kim Won-ho, he won the Thailand Masters, a World Tour Super 300 tournament, earlier this year with Jinyong (Yonex), winning 11 times. If he reaches the top in this finals, he will set a record for the most wins by an individual in a single season with 12 wins.