Korean superstar An Se-young won her record-tying 11th international title of the year on home soil. Her 48th international career title came at the expense of arch-rival Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World No. 1, defeated second-ranked Yamaguchi 21-12, 15-21, 21-16 in the women’s singles final atthe Stadium in Yeosu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victory in just over an hour tied the record first set by the men’s singles player Kento Momota of Japan in 2019 and equaled by Se-young herself last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This season, Se-young won eight tournaments on the BWF World Tour apart from the gold medals at the Badminton Asia Championships, World Championships and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had lost just once in 72 matches all season, the lone defeat coming against Wang Zhiyi of China in the All England Open final in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also extended her winning streak against Yamaguchi to 11 matches. Her last defeat to Yamaguchi came at Korean Open last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Se-young started off strongly to score three straight points to pull away. But, the tenacious Yamaguchi clawed back to draw level at 9-9 tie before Se-yound produced a string of winners. The Korean reeled off seven points in a row en route to a 21-12 first game win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yamaguchi seized early control in the second game by jumping out to a 4-0 lead, with Se-young struggling to get to Yamaguchi’s tricky returns. Yamaguchi won the game 21-15, without once allowing Se-young to pull into a tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the deciding third game, Se-young was dictated the pace and built an early 6-1 lead. She led 11-9 at the changeover and scored five unanswered points. The Japanese player battled back but never got within three points the rest of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 19-16, An set up the match point with a diagonal winner and then clinched the title on Yamaguchi’s errant return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also Se-young’s third Korean Open crown, having also won the the title in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I felt so happy knowing there are so many badminton fans here,” said Se-young following her win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is always great to win on home soil. I even got goose bumps hearing their cheers. I would like to thank these fans for their support. Sometimes during a match, I get discouraged when I make mistakes. But these fans helped me play with confidence even after errors.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On winning 11 titles in back-to-back seasons, she said, “I am proud of myself for this accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think I have grown up mentally from last year,” she added. “I have also learned how to turn things around when I am running on fumes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am not thinking all that much about setting the record,” Se-young said of her pursuit of her 12th title. “In my next tournament, I want to play the way I am capable of playing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men’s singles final, Canadian Victor Lai claimed his second title of the season with a comprehensive 21-11, 21-14 win over Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan. The win also avenged Victor’s only previous loss to Jason at the Hong Kong Open last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victor, the two time world championships semi-finalists, had also won the Indonesian Open earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was also good news for top ranked Koreans Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae in the men’s doubles, After a string of unremarkable results recently, Won-ho-Seung-jae finally got their act together when they defeated Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-12, 20-22, 21-19 for the crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FINAL RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s singles:<\/strong> Victor Lai (Can) bt Jason Gunawan (Hkg) 21-11, 21-14<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men\u2019s doubles:<\/strong> Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 21-12, 20-22, 21-19<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s singles:<\/strong> An Se-young (Kor) bt Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) 21-12, 15-21, 21-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n Women\u2019s doubles:<\/strong> Rui Hirokami-Sayaka Hobara (Jpn) bt Kim Yu-jung-Lee Yu-lim (Kor) 21-18, 21-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixed doubles:<\/strong> Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) Gao Jiaxuan-Wu Mengying (Chn) 21-16, 21-13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Korean superstar An Se-young won her record-tying 11th international title of the year on home soil. Her 48th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-17584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-badminton"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t