An Se-young (Samsung Life) has defeated Chen Yufei (China) to reach the women's singles final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Having won the gold medal in women's singles at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, An is now just one victory away from becoming the first player to win consecutive Asian Games titles in this event.
World No. 1 An Se-young triumphed over world No. 4 Chen Yufei 2-0 (21-5, 21-12) in the women's singles semifinals held on September 28 at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
She quickly established a lead by scoring nine consecutive points at the start of the first game, winning it 21-5. In the second game, she allowed Chen to tie at 6-6 but regained control to lead 11-6. An closed out the match by winning the last five points, finishing 21-12.
With this victory, An improved her head-to-head record against Chen to 18 wins and 14 losses. After suffering seven consecutive defeats to Chen in the past, An has now won their last five encounters.
Throughout this tournament, An has not dropped a single game. She breezed through the round of 32 in just 20 minutes and won the round of 16 2-0. In the quarterfinals, she defeated world No. 5 Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) 2-0 and did not allow Chen a single game in the semifinals.
An is now set to challenge for her second consecutive Asian Games title in women's singles. At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, she won both the women's team and singles events. In this tournament, Korea secured a bronze medal in the women's team event, while An aims for back-to-back golds in singles.
No player has won consecutive titles in women's singles badminton at the Asian Games. If An wins the final, she will achieve this historic milestone.
In the final, she will face the winner of the semifinal match between world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi (China) and world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi (Japan).
* This article has been translated by AI.
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