An Se-young hits a return to Wang Zhiyi during their women’s singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
Korean badminton star An Se-young claimed her record-tying 11th international title of the season on Sunday in China.
An, world No. 1 and 2024 Olympic gold medalist, defeated Wang Zhiyi of China 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 21-10) for the women’s singles title at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou on Sunday.
The victory put An in a tie with the former men’s singles player Kento Momota for the most international titles in a single season.
An reached 12 finals in 15 BWF World Tour events this season, and her only loss in a final came against Akane Yamaguchi of Japan at the Korea Open in September.
As the annual season finale, the World Tour Finals are open only to the top eight individual players and top eight doubles pairs from the World Tour season.
In the women’s singles, the eight players were divided into two groups, and the top two players from each group after round-robin action qualified for the semifinals.
An went undefeated in the preliminary phase and then knocked off Yamaguchi in the semifinals to get a measure of revenge.
Gold medalist An Se-young, right, and silver medalist Wang Zhiyi pose with the trophies during the award ceremony for the women’s singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
In the first game against Wang on Sunday, An turned an 8-4 deficit into a 12-8 lead in a hurry, as Wang lost steam after a quick start. From there, An cruised to a 21-13 win with her typically superb shotmaking and brilliant defense.
Wang jumped out to a 4-1 lead to open the second game and once again grabbed an 8-4 lead. An cut the deficit to 8-7 before Wang won an extended rally to go up 9-7.
An then went down 10-7 and looked a little fatigued in the process, but she gutted out five straight points to seize a 12-10 lead.
Gold medalist An Se-young poses with the trophy during the award ceremony for the women’s singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
Wang responded with two consecutive points before taking a 17-14 advantage. The Chinese player then held off An for a 21-18 win that knotted the match at one game apiece.
In the deciding third game, An took an 8-5 lead after an early seesaw battle. With both players visibly exhausted, An gave herself a 15-6 cushion en route to a convincing win.
In the late stages of the match, An kept flexing her left leg with apparent discomfort in her knee. Holding a match point at 20-10, An took a few moments to stretch out her leg on the sidelines before limping back to the court.
Essentially playing on one leg, An somehow converted the match point for the record-tying victory.
An improved to 16-4 against Wang, including a perfect 8-0 mark this year. An’s last loss to Wang came in the semifinals of the 2024 World Tour Finals.
An Se-young celebrates after defeating Wang Zhiyi during their women’s singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
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