China Masters: Early Exit for An Se Young, Tunjung
Top seed An Se Young crashed to her earliest defeat in several months as she fell to local hope Wang Zhi Yi in the second round of the LI-NING China Masters 2023.
· DEV SUKUMAR
Discounting her group stage loss at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2022 last December, An Se Young’s last defeat at such an early stage was her second round exit at the Malaysia Open 2022 last July. Since then she has made 16 finals and three semifinals in 20 events overall.
The Korean’s campaign in Shenzhen came to a tame end. Wang dominated the opening game, and although An pulled level at 14-all from a deficit in the second, the Chinese shot past her to take the match comfortably: 21-12 21-16 in 47 minutes.
Wang, who had a 1-7 record against An coming into the match – her sole win was in April 2022 – said the home crowd support had seen her through.