An Se-Young breaks her own record with 10th BWF World Tour title of 2025 in Sydney
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South Korea’s An Se-young reacting after beating Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-16, 21-14 in the women's singles final at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Nov 23, 2025. It is the South Korean world No. 1's 10th BWF World Tour title of the season.
PHOTO: AFP
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SYDNEY – South Korea’s An Se-young broke her own record for most women’s singles titles in a season after winning her 10th championship of 2025 at the Australian Open on Nov 23.
The 23-year-old reached double figures after beating Indonesia’s world No. 7 Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-16, 21-14 in 44 minutes at the State Sports Centre in Sydney.
The world No. 1 set the previous mark of nine Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour titles in a single season in 2023, when she also won singles and team gold medals at the Asian Games.
In 2025, she has played in 14 World Tour tournaments and reached 11 finals. The only time she has failed to reach at least the semi-finals was at the Singapore Open in May, when she lost to China’s former Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the quarter-finals.
She also won all her five matches at the mixed-team Sudirman Cup, where South Korea finished second, behind China.
But that has been more of a blip for An, who has been the bane of Chinese players, beating them in eight of her 10 final wins in 2025. World No. 2 Wang Zhiyi alone has lost six finals to her South Korean rival.
Retired former men’s singles world No. 1 and two-time world champion Kento Momota holds the BWF single-season title record, with 11 in 2019.
Incidentally, An and the 31-year-old Japanese played each other in a unique practice match in South Korea in February.
“It is very special, of course, to get this tenth title. I’m really happy. I would like to get the (Momota’s) record, but I am just thinking one by one, step by step. I just want to play my best always,” said An, after her triumph at the US$475,000 (S$621,000) Super 500 event.
There are two more events on the World Tour this term, the Super 300 Syed Modi India International from Nov 25 to 30 and season-ending Dec 17-21 World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.
She is not the only South Korean with Momota’s record in her sights.
Men’s doubles world No. 1 Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae are also on 10 titles for the season, with their last win coming at the Kumamoto Masters Japan earlier in November.
But in their absence in Sydney, Raymond Indra and Nikolaus Joaquin won their first Super 500 title, beating Indonesian compatriots Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 22-20, 10-21, 21-18 in the final.
In another all-Indonesian showpiece, Rachel Allessya Rose and Febi Setianingrum beat Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma 18-21, 21-19. 23-21 in the women’s singles.
But Indonesia were denied a doubles sweep when Malaysia’s world champions Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei beat Jafar Hidayatullah and Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu for the fifth time in 2025 21-16, 21-11.
The men’s singles title was won by India’s world No. 14 Lakshya Sen, who beat 26th-ranked Japanese Yushi Tanaka 21-15, 21-11 for his first title in 2025.
He said: “I have seen a lot of ups and downs this season, with a few injuries at the start of the season but I kept my hard work going throughout the season and I am very happy to end the season on a good note.”
