Singapore: Korea’s badminton prodigy An Se Young, who has continued her streak of reaching the finals in every tournament she has participated in 2023, emerged victorious in the women’s singles final of the Singapore Open on Sunday, defeating Japanese World Champion Akane Yamaguchi and securing her fifth title of the year!
Highlights of An Se Young vs. Akane Yamaguchi in the 2023 Singapore Open final:
The Singapore Open final marked An Se Young’s fourth meeting with Yamaguchi in the finals this year, following their encounters in the Malaysia Open, India Open, and German Open. They now have a record of 2-2 against each other in those four finals. Yamaguchi claimed the titles in the Malaysia Open and the German Open.
An Se Young secured her fifth title of the year by defeating Akane Yamaguchi 21-16, 21-14 in the Singapore Open final, adding to her previous victories at the All England Open, the India Open, the Indonesia Masters, and Thailand Open.
With An Se Young’s victory, South Korea has secured a women’s singles championship at the Singapore Open for the first time since Ra Kyung-min defeated Yuliani Santosa 12-9, 11-5 in 1994, ending a 29-year drought.
In the women’s doubles final, the clash took place between the world’s number one and number two pairs. In the end, the top-ranked Chinese pair, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan, took home their second title of the year by beating Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee 21-16, 21-12.
This was Chen/Jia’s third time reaching the final in their fifth tournament this year. They previously won the Malaysia Open but finished as runners-up in the India Open. In the other two tournaments, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Championships and the All England.
In the mixed doubles final, the World No. 13 Danish pair Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra Boje defeated the World No. 3 Japanese pair of Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino 21-14, 20-22, 21-16.
The Danish pair had previously won the Spain Masters in early April, becoming the only European doubles pair to win a title in a BWF World Tour event this year. Now they have added another championship to their name.
Meanwhile, Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino missed the chance to make history as the first Japanese mixed doubles pair to win the Singapore Open. Noriko Takagi of Japan had won the mixed doubles title at this tournament in 1968, but her partner was Danish player Svend Andersen.
