The obstacle has remained the same – An Se-young.
The story was no different at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Sunday as the South Korean world No.1 clinched her third India Open crown, beating Wang 21-13, 21-11 in 43 minutes, extending her record to 18-4 against the Chinese player.
“She is very consistent, strong and fast. She is very comprehensive, good in every aspect and has a lot of skills. She is one of the toughest opponents I have faced, an extraordinary player,” two-time Asian champion Wang said after her loss.
So consistent has An been that she has not dropped out of the top 2 for the last two years, and has held on to the top spot since October 2024. The 23-year-old won the 2023 Asian Games gold in Hangzhou, became the first Korean women’s singles world champion that year and stood atop the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics. During her journey, she also won two All England and BWF World Tour Finals crowns.
Last year, she won 11 titles on the BWF World Tour, breaking her own record for the most women’s singles honours while equalling former men’s star Kento Momota of Japan for the most crowns in one season.
“She is one step faster. Her game pushes me harder and harder. She can control the shuttle from every angle. Her playing style (makes her difficult to face). She plays different styles with different players,” said Thailand’s former world champion Ratchanok Intanon, who has beaten An only once in 14 outings.
“Every player wants to beat her but her physicality and mentality is so strong that she is very hard to beat. She does not give up and tries to win every point. She’s probably the hardest opponent I have faced. Her level is a bit above others. We have to learn her weakness but she doesn’t show any.”
Just one streak explains how dominant An has been in recent times. She has played 15 finals since November 2024, losing just one. Her deft touch at the net, powerful and precise smashes and control from the back court has made her probably the most dominant player in modern badminton.
Her hunger for wins and hunt for trophies has begun afresh this year, having won both her tournaments so far. At 23, she is only getting started. In her pursuit of perfection, she is scripting one commanding victory after another, still searching for that complete game.
“She has a strong will. That’s the driving force. An wants to have an even more attacking game. We are training according to that. She wants her movement to be even better and improve the accuracy of her strokes,” her coach Lee Hyun Il said.
It isn’t as if pressure doesn’t affect the world’s best or her body doesn’t get tired playing in the business end of every tournament week in, week out. “For fitness, she does power and weight management while she has been taking psychological counselling for more than one year,” added Lee.
What makes her win more points than others is her ability to punish and capitalise on almost every error her opponent makes. But it also comes with grace and elegance, not always the case in a game as physical as badminton where every muscle and ligament is stretched to the limit.
Since her last defeat in the Korea Open final last September, An has gone an incredible 30-match winning run. Asked if she feels invincible, the reigning Olympic champion laughed: “I try my best not to lose as much as possible.”