Dominant Win Yields Fewest Points Conceded… Just One Win Away from Historic Second Straight Title

[Anchor]

World-renowned badminton star An Se-young is now just one win away from becoming the first female singles player to secure back-to-back titles. She advanced to the final by securing a dominant victory, conceding the fewest points ever against her long-time rival Chen Yufei of China, whom she played in an epic final at the Hangzhou Games three years ago.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story from the venue.

[Reporter]

An Se-young, who fought through a knee injury three years ago at the Hangzhou Games final to claim a gritty gold medal against Chen Yufei, faced her rival again in the semifinals.

Over the past three years, An has established herself as the undisputed world number one, and Chen was simply no match for her.

Right from the start of the match, An seized momentum by frustrating her opponent with exquisite drop shots that caught her off guard and running her all over the court, scoring nine consecutive points without giving up a single one.

[Bae Seong-jae / Caster: The expression on the Chinese bench is not looking good! An Se-young is impregnable right from the first game!]

An claimed the first game while surrendering only 5 points, and continued an unyielding onslaught that was hard to believe was a semifinal. She wrapped up the second game 21-12, winning 2-0 to leave herself just one victory away from the first consecutive titles in tournament history.

The total of 17 points conceded across both games was the fewest points she has ever given up against Chen Yufei in their 32 career matchups.

[An Se-young / National Badminton Team Member: Whatever shots I hit, I did so with confidence, and they went in well. I think a lot of great plays came out as a result, and I will leave everything out there on the court for the final match.]

Now, she is just a single step away from making new history.

An is set to play her much-anticipated final match today (September 29) against world number three Yamaguchi of Japan.

Baek Hana and Lee So-hee, the silver medalists in women's doubles at the Hangzhou Games, also defeated a Japanese pair to reach the final, where they will battle the world number one Chinese duo today for their first gold medal.

[Lee So-hee / National Badminton Team Member: There is only one game left, so being tired or anything else doesn't matter. We will pour everything we have into this single game.]

Yoo Tae-bin, ranked 46th in the world who created a sensation by reaching the semifinals, lost to his Singaporean opponent and had to settle for South Korea's first men's singles bronze medal in 16 years.

(Photo: Yonhap News | Video by Choe Dae-woong | Video Editing by Lee Jae-seong | Design by Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.