Badminton star An Se-young wins Korea Open for record-tying 11th int'l title

Korean badminton star An Se-young won her record-tying 11th international title of the year on home soil Sunday. An, world No. 1, defeated second-ranked Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 2-1 (21-12, 15-21, 21-16) in the women's singles final at Yeosu Victor Korea Open at Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu, some 320 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The Korea Open is the only Korean event on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour. This was An's 11th international victory of the year, tying the record first set by the men's singles player Kento Momota in 2019 and equaled by An herself in 2025. This year, An has won eight tournaments on the BWF World Tour and gold medals at the Badminton Asia Championships, BWF World Championships and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. An has 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. An also extended her winning streak against Yamaguchi to 11 matches. An considered skipping the Korea Open, citing fatigue, but chose to compete in front of home fans.