An Se-young claims her fifth title of 2025 with Indonesia Open win; Anders Antonsen also victorious

JAKARTA – Trailing 9-17 in the second game, badminton’s world No. 1 An Se-young looked down and out in the Indonesia Open women’s singles final on June 8.

But the South Korean seized on a sudden lapse by China’s world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi, reeling in six points in a row en route to winning the second game 21-19. This levelled the match at 1-1 before she completed a comeback to seal her fifth title of 2025.

Overcoming an error-strewn start, An won 13-21, 21-19, 21-15 to bag the winner’s prize money of US$101,500 (S$130,900) at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta.

An, 23, said: “I was very frustrated because my performance wasn’t even half of what it usually is. But I had to go on with it and I think it worked.

“Coach told me to keep it simple, with repetitive basic strokes... I told myself to run fast and don’t make mistakes. So, I think I did that faithfully.”

This is also the third Super 1000 triumph of the year for the Paris Olympic champion.

Super 1000 tournaments form the second tier of competitions on the Badminton World Federation World Tour, just below the World Tour Finals. There are only four Super 1000 events on the calendar, with the July 22-27 China Open being the last one.

An had won the other Super 1000 tournaments earlier in the year – the Malaysia Open in January and the All England Open in March, where she had also come from behind to beat Wang in the final.

Wang said that defeat in Birmingham was not weighing on her mind.

The 25-year said: “I was leading in the first game, but at the end of the second game, my strategy was not working and I think that my opponent changed her strategy so she could win her second and third game.”

In the men’s singles final, world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark defeated Chinese Taipei’s seventh-ranked Chou Tien-chen 22-20, 21-14 for his first title in three finals this season.

Antonsen, who had lost to Chou in the final of the 2019 edition, said: “He played extremely well in the first game and I was struggling to find a way to solve the puzzle.

“But in the very end... it comes down to the smallest margins, so I got lucky. In a final like this, it’s about staying kind of calm, avoiding too many stupid mistakes.”

Chou and Antonsen had overcome Thai world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Chinese world No. 2 Shi Yuqi respectively in the semi-finals, and initially, it seemed like Chou had carried that momentum into the final as he led 20-17 in the first game.

But the 35-year-old allowed his 28-year-old rival to claim five points in a row to win the first game instead.

On the late collapse, Chou said: “He changed his strategy for his service and I tried to follow up, but it didn’t work. The first set was pretty down for me. I tried to wake up in the second set, but he’s very good.”

While Antonsen secured his first Indonesian Open crown, there was also a first in the mixed doubles as world No. 10 Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue celebrated France’s first Super 1000 title after a 21-16, 21-18 win over sixth-ranked Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Gicquel, who wrapped Delrue in a bear hug after their historic feat. “The start was super hard and we got through, and we never thought we’d get this far after the first round. It’s crazy, it was one of our goals to win a big tournament this year. It’s a lot of hard work behind this, so we’re grateful.”

In the women’s doubles final, China’s top-ranked Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning defeated Malaysia’s world No. 4 Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan 23-25, 21-12, 21-19.

With other Indonesians such as men’s singles world No. 5 Jonatan Christie having exited earlier, it was left to eighth-ranked men’s doubles pair Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani to give the home crowd something to cheer about.

While they fought hard against South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, it was not enough as the world No. 6 pair won 18-21, 21-19, 21-12.