Shi Yuqi shines with dominant win over Anders Antonsen to claim Malaysia Open badminton title

KUALA LUMPUR – China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi started the 2025 badminton season with the same dominant display that marked his previous campaign, as he defeated Denmark’s Anders Antonsen 21-8, 21-15 in the Malaysia Open men’s singles final on Jan 12.

Shi had lost in straight games to the Dane in the 2024 final, but he was a different proposition in this one-sided match, winning in just 39 minutes in front of a full house at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.

The 28-year-old, who claimed US$101,500 (S$139,100) in prize money, also became the first player from China to win the men’s singles title in Malaysia since Lin Dan’s 2019 triumph.

“I’m definitely happy because it has been a while since a Chinese men’s singles shuttler won a title in Malaysia,” said Shi, who won five Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour titles in 2024.

“Last year when I played against Antonsen, he was in excellent form, so today I reflected on my past encounters with him and I made sure to prepare thoroughly.”

Needing only 15 minutes to secure the opening game, Shi’s cross-court returns proved to be his strong suit, as they left world No. 2 Antonsen flat-footed at times.

The 27-year-old Dane started the second game with a neat disguised drop shot that wowed the crowd, and he continued in the same positive momentum to take an 11-9 lead at the interval.

But mistakes began to creep in and when Antonsen conceded another point to trail 11-14, he shouted at himself.

A fortunate point from Shi saw the shuttle tumbling over the Dane’s court, which added to his frustration and the Chinese ace sealed victory when his opponent’s return went wide.

Antonsen, who also lost to Shi in the title decider of December’s BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, admitted that he was up against the world’s best player.

He added: “His attack is probably the best in the world, it’s super sharp, super powerful and his net game was very, very good today. Very strong, physical player, he’s the best in the world right now.”

The Dane, however, took comfort in the fact that he had reached a fifth final in as many tournaments.

In the last three months of 2024, he had also won the Denmark Open, China Masters and the King Cup International Badminton Open, an invitational competition organised by retired Chinese legend Lin Dan in Shenzhen.

The women’s singles final was also contested between the world’s top two, with South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young retaining her title after cruising to a 21-17, 21-7 win over China’s Wang Zhiyi.

An said she had taken lessons from her last two encounters with Wang – at last season’s BWF World Tour Finals semi-finals and Denmark Open final – which ended in defeat.

The Paris Olympic gold medallist has now set her sights on eclipsing her 10 titles won in 2023.

“Breaking my own record is something I want to continue doing,” said the 22-year-old.

“I guess I’m quite ambitious. Winning always gives me tremendous confidence and brings me the greatest joy.”

Wang admitted that she was indecisive in the first game, which led to many unforced errors, and just could not match An’s pace in the second game.

The 24-year-old, who had beaten Singapore’s 12th-ranked Yeo Jia Min in the quarter-finals, said her rise to prominence has also brought about pressure.

“But it is about how I turn the pressure into motivation,” she added. “I just hope to be able to focus on the results on court.”

While China had reached all five finals of the Malaysia Open for the first time since 2005, only Shi stood atop the podium.

Their three doubles duos also lost in the finals.

Top-ranked mixed doubles pair Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping were defeated 21-13, 19-21, 21-18 by Thailand’s world No. 57 Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran.

In the women’s doubles final, 129th-ranked Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian fell 17-21, 21-15, 21-15 to Japan’s world No. 93 Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.

World No. 18 Chen Boyang and Liu Yi also found no breakthrough in the men’s doubles final, where they lost 19-21, 21-12, 21-12 to South Korea’s unranked Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, who have reprised their partnership after their last doubles match in 2019.

Kim, 25, is a Paris Olympics mixed doubles silver medallist, while Seo, 27, is one half of the reigning men’s and mixed doubles world champions.

Seo, who has won a BWF title with a fifth different player, said: “In the beginning, we were eager to win, maybe too eager, so we made some mistakes, but the second and third game we played our own game and managed to win.” AFP