Ahn Se-young ranked first in the women’s singles rankings, setting records for the most wins (73 wins, 4 losses), most matches played (77 games), and most wins (11 times) in the 2025 badminton season. He won all eight of his matches against Wang Zhiyi, setting a new record for the most winning streak in a season, and recorded 27 consecutive wins and 20 consecutive wins, earning $1,003,175 in prize money and joining the $1 million single season prize money club.
[OSEN=고성환 기자] At this level, it is not just about being number 1 in the world rankings. The countless records set by Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance) in 2025 are in the spotlight.
‘Badminton Ranks’ looked back on the major records from last season’s women’s singles through social media on the 30th of last month (Korean time), saying, “Ahn Se-young set several major records in 2025.”
As expected, the name that stood out the most was Ahn Se-young. The media said, “Ahn Se-young recorded the most wins (73 wins, 4 losses), the most games played (77 games), and the most wins (11)/finals (12)/semifinals (14)/quarterfinals (15 times). In the same year, Wang Ziyi (China) won 3 times, advanced to the finals 11 times, advanced to the semifinals 11 times, advanced to the quarterfinals 14 times, and recorded 56 wins and 15 losses.” reported.
However, Wang Ziyi was first in terms of playing time. He spent the longest time on the court, playing a whopping 3,538 minutes. This is the third longest record in history, following Ahn Se-young (4,072 minutes) and Chen Yu-fei (3,900 minutes) in 2023. In 2025, Ahn Se-young stayed on the court for 3,479 minutes, the second most after Wang Ziyi.
Wang Ziyi had the most number of runner-up finishes. He finished as runner-up eight times in one year, breaking the record for the most runner-up finishes. The previous record was 7 times, set by Bang Bang-hyeon in 1995, Gong Ji-chao in 1997, and Chen Yu-fei in 2022.
It’s all because of Ahn Se-young. Ahn Se-young met Wang Zhiyi eight times in 2025 and won all eight times, setting a new record for the most consecutive wins in a season. Among them, 7 were finals. Of the eight runner-up finishes Wang Zhiyi recorded, seven were losses to Ahn Se-young.
Badminton Ranks continues to list the records set by Ahn Se-young this season. He won the Super 750 competition five times this year. The only players who have won more or the same number of titles throughout their careers are Chen Yufei (6 times), Akane Yamaguchi (5 times), and Tai Tzu-ying (5 times).
In addition, the media pointed out, “Ahn Se-young set two amazing winning streaks in 2025. He had a 27-game winning streak from the Malaysia Open to the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open. He then recorded a 20-game winning streak from the Denmark Open to the World Tour Finals. This is currently in progress.”
Ahn Se-young’s prize money record was also highlighted. He won a whopping 11 competitions and earned $1,003,175 (approximately 1.452 billion won) in prize money alone, becoming the first player in history to join the $1 million club in single-season prize money. Wang Zhiyi, the runner-up in the BWF World Tour Finals, also earned prize money of $625,465 (about 900 million won), but this is only 60% of Ahn Se-young’s earnings.
Badminton Ranks emphasized how great Ahn Se-young’s $1 million prize money in a single season was, saying, “In the history of badminton, there are only 18 singles players and 7 doubles players who have won more than $1,003,175 in prize money. That’s $1 million in their entire careers.”
Lastly, the media added, “Ahn Se-young ranked first overall in women’s singles with a winning rate of 94.8% in 2025. Second place was Chen Yufei (87.88%), third place was Wang Ziyi (78.87%), fourth place was Akane Yamaguchi (77.78%), and fifth place was Han Yue (77.78%).”
This is Ahn Se-young, who has had a year that will forever be remembered in history. Starting with the Malaysia Open, he won the India Open, Orleans Masters, All England Open, Indonesia Open, Japan Open, China Masters, Denmark Open, French Open, Australian Open, and World Tour Finals, catching up with the record of most wins (11 wins) set by legendary Japanese men’s singles player Kento Momota in 2019.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) praised Ahn, saying, “Ahn Se-young advanced to the finals a whopping 12 times out of the 15 competitions he participated in, and won all but one of them. He recorded only 4 losses, setting the lowest loss record among players who have played more than 70 matches, and achieved an astonishing 94.8% win rate. This figure surpasses the win rate of legendary players such as Lin Dan and Li Chong-wei over a similar period.”
In addition, BWF applauded Ahn Se-young, calling her ‘the queen of the court with no rivals’ and saying, “Ahn Se-young’s brilliant performance has set another milestone. He is recorded as the first badminton player to exceed $1 million in prize money in a year, proving how consistent performance at the elite level can bring great returns.”
However, Ahn Se-young vowed that she would never be satisfied with this, saying that her prime had not yet arrived. He has already started preparing for the new season. Ahn Se-young will participate in the Malaysia Open starting on the 6th in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then move to New Delhi, India to compete in the Malaysia Open starting on the 13th.
[사진] BWF, Korean Badminton Association social media.
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