HANGZHOU – Just two days after she was named the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Female Player of the Year, South Korea’s An Se-young fell in her opening match at the World Tour Finals to compatriot Kim Ga-eun.
The world No. 1, however, has not been at her best since injuring her knee at the September-October Asian Games, held in the same Chinese city of Hangzhou as the ongoing season-ending tournament.
But she was not the only world No. 1 to endure a tough start on Dec 13, as Viktor Axelsen also lost his men’s singles opener to Shi Yuqi 21-19, 21-19. Reigning champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn also fell short, succumbing 21-18, 21-8 to Jonatan Christie.
Kim, 25, took advantage of her 21-year-old opponent’s lack of fitness to triumph 21-18, 21-18 in their Group A clash.
“It’s my first time at the World Tour Finals, and it feels good that I’m in the same group as An Se-young, so that’s very significant for me,” said Kim, as per the BWF website.
“An was injured and hasn’t been in her best shape, so that was the reason I could win today. I got a lot of confidence from winning the Korea Masters, so I’m confident I can do well here.”
The other match in the group saw Chinese Taipei’s world No. 4 Tai Tzu Ying beat Indonesia’s Gregoria Tunjung 21-18. 21-17.
An has had an impressive year, capturing 11 titles in total between Nov 1, 2022 and Oct 31, 2023 – the BWF’s period of assessment for its best player award.
This included a run of five successive wins, the highlight of which was the World Championship title in August.
The South Korean, who beat China’s Chen Yufei and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi to the award, was aiming to clinch her 11th trophy in 2023 to match former men’s singles world No. 1 Kento Momota’s calendar-year record.
She could still have a chance to do so if she bounces back in Hangzhou.
But having gone two events without a title since the Asian Games, it would be tough even for someone of An’s calibre.
Kim, meanwhile, won the Korea Masters and made it to the last four of the China Masters in November, and in the process achieved her career’s highest rank of No. 13.
With momentum on her side, she still showed signs of nervousness when she was up seven match points in the second game. An fought back to 18-20, before Kim finally closed out the match.
In the men’s doubles, Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen claimed some form of revenge after defeating Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae, the South Korean duo who beat them in the final of the World Championships.
The Danes were up 21-10, before Kang and Seo levelled it up at 21-15, and the clash ended with a 24-22 thriller.
“It was insanely tense, and you could see that both pairs knew that it was important to win this match and both gave it all, and we left everything out there and luckily for us that was enough,” said Astrup, after they had saved match point and converted their own third opportunity.
Rasmussen felt that it was “the small things that made the difference”.
He added: “So really proud about this win because of course they are world champions.
“It was a really good match and we’re so excited to get started in this tournament. We had an idea where we were, in terms of shape and playing-wise, but great, great start.”
