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Top-seeded An Se-young reaches Korea Open final

Published: 28 Sep. 2025, 14:34

An Se-young of South Korea plays against Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in the women's singles quarterfinals at the Korea Open badminton tournament at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 26 [YONHAP]

World No. 1 An Se-young advanced to the women's singles final at the Korea Open on Saturday, reaching the brink of her eighth title on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour this season.

An was declared the winner against Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the semifinals at Suwon Gymnasium when the latter was forced to retire due to an apparent leg injury during the second game. An won the first game 21-19 and was leading the second game 8-0 when the match was called.

The top-seeded Korean will face No. 2 seed from Japan, Akane Yamaguchi, in Sunday's final.

An and Yamaguchi have split their 28 head-to-head matches so far, but An has won all three meetings so far in 2025.

An, the 2024 Olympic champion, has won seven tournaments on the BWF World Tour this season, including the prestigious All England Open. She missed out on the final in her title defense at the world championships in Paris last month and settled for bronze, but then bounced right back to claim her second straight China Masters title last week.

An previously won the Korea Open in 2022 and 2023.

An had won all 11 previous matches against Chochuwong before Saturday, but the Thai player gave the Korean star all she could handle in the first game. The seesaw battle had the two players knotted at 18-18, with neither leading by more than two points at any point in the match.

An Se-young of South Korea celebrates her win over Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in the women's singles quarterfinals at the Korea Open badminton tournament at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Sept. 26. [YONHAP]

From there, An won two of the game's final three points to go up 1-0.

After An won the first seven points of the second game, Chochuwong grabbed her left calf and fell to the court while charging the net. She was forced to retire and hand the match to An.

In other matches Saturday, the world No. 1 men's doubles team of Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae advanced to the final after a 2-0 (21-16, 21-12) win over Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.

Kim and Seo, who won their first world title together in August, will play Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia for the gold medal Sunday.

In the women's doubles on Saturday, Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong, No. 2 seed from South Korea, defeated third-seeded Baek Hana and Lee So-hee 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 21-14) in the all-Korean semifinals.

Kim and Kong will square off against the top-seeded team from Japan, Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, in the final on Sunday. Kim and Kong won their only previous meeting against Iwanaga and Nakanishi in the Singapore Open final in June this year.

Yonhap