An Se-young continues imperious 2025 with Orleans Masters crown
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South Korea's world No. 1 An Se-young celebrating after winning the India Open in January. On March 9, she won the Orleans Masters title by beating Chen Yufei 21-14, 21-15 in 45 minutes at Palais des Sports in France.
PHOTO: AFP
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ORLEANS – The clash between the last two badminton women’s singles Olympic champions at the Orleans Masters ended with Paris 2024 gold medallist An Se-young beating Tokyo 2020 victor Chen Yufei 21-14, 21-15 in 45 minutes at Palais des Sports on March 9.
It proved the perfect warmup for South Korea’s world No. 1, who heads to the March 11-16 All England Open in Birmingham having won all three of her tournaments in 2025.
The 23-year-old said: “Firstly, I’m so happy to win the match, I’m so happy to see Chen Yufei’s comeback. I really enjoyed the match. I enjoy our rivalry and competing against each other.”
She will be hoping to regain the All England women’s singles title she won in 2023 by defeating Chen in three games.
“I think I can forget about this week,” said An, who lost to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the 2024 semi-finals.
“Next week is a new week, I will try my best and enjoy the matches. I’m feeling good about next week. Everything is perfect.”
The Olympic and world champion was taken to three games only once during the Orleans Masters, in the semi-finals by another Chinese, 17th-ranked Gao Fangjie.
But 11th-ranked Chen could not do the same in the final, with the rust in her game evident, even if she did show flashes of brilliance despite An having seven game points in both games.
Apart from featuring in two matches at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in February, Chen has not played on the Badminton World Federation World Tour since a quarter-final loss at the Paris Games last August.
The 27-year-old was simply glad to have made it to the final on her return to the tour.
She said with a laugh: “In the first round (against Japan’s Hina Akechi), I was thinking I would lose. I can’t believe I made it all the way to the final and I’m really happy.
“An is the same as before... Her defence is very good. I think I need more passion and speed but today I didn’t have speed. Next week I will make some changes to my playing style. I will do my best.”
In men’s singles, French world No. 16 Alex Lanier won his third title on tour, beating Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-yi, ranked two spots higher, 21-13, 21-18.
In the women’s doubles final, world No. 1 Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee were upset by 19th-ranked compatriots Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong 21-18, 23-21.
It is Kim and Kong’s third straight final appearance since the India Open in January.
They lost that showpiece in New Delhi but then won the Indonesia Masters and now in France. Their good form will see them move up to a career-high world No. 11 on March 11.
In the mixed doubles final, fifth seeds Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund of Denmark saw off the challenge of Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-17, 21-13.
The result will see the Danes crack the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time on March 11.
In the men’s doubles final, South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju upset China’s world No. 3 pair Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-13, 18-21, 21-18.
