French Open: An Se Young’s Reign Continues
Neither a right knee still on the mend from injury, nor a long semifinal; nor a difficult opponent: none of these limited An Se Young's pursuit of her second title of the year and her 21st on the HSBC BWF World Tour.
· DEV SUKUMAR
There was the familiar scream of delight from the world No.1 after she’d dispatched Akane Yamaguchi, her toughest rival of recent times, rather comfortably: 18-21 21-13 21-10.
With both finalists still recovering from recent injuries, there was some doubt about how it would all play out. An had visibly struggled in her semifinal against Tai Tzu Ying, coming back from four match points down, while Yamaguchi was in her first World Tour final since last September.
Yamaguchi’s best spell of play was in the first game, but as the match wore on, her level noticeably declined. The former two-time French Open champion could barely get her attack going, even as An pinned her to the deep backhand and picked her spots for the kill. It was over in 64 minutes, with An winning her second French Open title and continuing her reign atop women’s singles badminton.