Seventh title of 2025, but not seventh heaven yet for badminton world No. 1 An Se-young
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South Korea’s An Se-young hitting a return to China’s Han Yue during their women's singles final at the China Masters badminton tournament in Shenzhen on Sept 21.
PHOTO: AFP
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SHENZHEN – A seventh title of the season would have sparked ecstatic celebrations for most athletes, but as far as badminton queen An Se-young was concerned, it was still not seventh heaven despite reaching that number with her China Masters victory on Sept 21.
After cruising to the women’s singles title with a 21-11, 21-3 win over home hope Han Yue, the world No. 1 seemed more concerned about her transition to a more offensive style of play.
As the third-ranked Han sent a return into the net which handed An victory in just 33 minutes, the South Korean turned to the Shenzhen Arena crowd, let out a yell and pumped her fists briefly.
“I was actually unsure about this victory. There were some parts that were frustrating because I wasn’t sure if my change in playing style will work,” said An, who had retired with an injury
“My opponent was outstanding at the start of match, so I told myself to play hard and not miss out on another opportunity. I started to increase the pace and moved faster – these were the crucial factors to winning today.”
Victory at the Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 750 event, which came with US$80,500 (S$103,400) in prize money, also improved An’s head-to-head record over Han to 9-2.
An’s change in style was described as a “work in progress” by her coach Park Joo-bong just before her previous outing – the world championships in August – when the 2024 Olympic champion was knocked out in the semi-finals by China’s fifth-ranked Chen Yufei, the Tokyo 2020 Games winner.
Asked if she has a target in mind having won 10 titles in 2023, the 23-year-old An said: “For sure if I can better my old self, achieve better results and set a higher record, that would be a positive.
“But for now, I just want to play my style of badminton and make every necessary change. These are more important now.”
Meanwhile, history was made as Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran became the China Masters’ first non-local mixed doubles champions since its inception in 2005.
The world No. 4 pair registered a 21-8, 21-17 win over Malaysia’s newly minted world champions
Both pairs had knocked out Chinese opponents in the semi-finals, with the Thais edging out world No. 1 duo Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin 21-17, 22-20, while the Malaysians prevailed 22-24, 21-19, 21-17 against defending champions and second-ranked Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping.
But the home crowd still had moments to celebrate as Weng Hongyang clinched the men’s singles title and Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian triumphed in the women’s doubles.
World No. 12 Weng prevailed 21-11, 21-15 over Chinese Taipei’s 15th-ranked Lin Chun-yi in a battle of unseeded finalists, while world No. 4 Jia and Zhang beat South Korea’s sixth-ranked Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong 21-19, 16-21, 21-13.
In the men’s doubles, world No. 1 Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae of South Korea triumphed 21-19, 21-15 over seventh-ranked Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India.
This is the seventh title of the season for the top seeds, who have also tasted success at the All England Open and world championships.
