World No. 1 An Se-young finished in second place at the Korea Open on Sunday, coming up short of her eighth victory on the Badminton World Federation World Tour this season in front of a home crowd.
The top-seeded South Korean lost to the No. 2 seed from Japan, Akane Yamaguchi, by 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) in the women's singles final at Suwon Gymnasium in Suwon, about 30 kilometers south of Seoul.
An dropped to 14-15 all time against Yamaguchi, losing to the Japanese veteran for the first time in four matches this year.
An, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, has won seven tournaments on the BWF World Tour this season, including the prestigious All England Open. She settled for bronze in her title defense at the world championships in Paris last month but then bounced right back to win the China Masters last week.
An, who previously won the Korea Open in 2022 and 2023, was going for a second consecutive win and had not dropped a game en route to the final.
On Sunday, though, An had no answer against Yamaguchi's deft shotmaking and trailed by as much as 15-10 in the first game. An battled back to make it a 17-17 contest before Yamaguchi grabbed four of the next five points.
The second game was more lopsided in Yamaguchi's favor, with An never once leading and going down by seven at one point. Yamaguchi closed out the Korean with an emphatic winner, much to the disappointment of the partisan crowd in Suwon.
The fans still gave the local favorite a huge ovation as An acknowledged them with a bow.
"Yamaguchi played a perfect match, and I had to play from behind," An said. "Her attacks were so quick that I had trouble keeping pace. With so many fans cheering for me, I really wanted to win, but I guess this was not my day."
An was widely regarded as the title favorite in Suwon, in the absence of a trio of her Chinese rivals, Wang Zhiyi (world No. 2), Han Yue (No. 3) and Chen Yufei (No. 5). But the Korean star said it is "becoming more and more difficult" to win international events.
"It's hard to determine just how much harder I have to try," An added. "My arrivals are coming out stronger and stronger at every competition. I have to keep getting better, too."
Despite winning seven titles, An said her season has been a roller coaster ride.
"As good as I was in the beginning, I faded away in the second half. So it has not been a good year at all. It's forced me to look at myself in the mirror," she said. "I'd love to win all the remaining tournaments of the year. My goal is to stay healthy and play the way I want to play."
Korea swept the men's and women's doubles titles Sunday.
The top-seeded team of Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae defeated Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia 2-0 (21-16, 23-21) for the men's doubles gold medal. This was their eighth international title of this season. Kim and Seo did not drop a game on their way to the top of the podium.
In the women's doubles final earlier Sunday, the No. 2 seed from South Korea, Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong, defeated the top-seeded Japanese duo of Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi by 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) for their first Korea Open title together.
Kong won the Korea Open in 2019 with a different partner, Kim So-yeong. Kong and Kim Hye-jeong became partners in 2024. (Yonhap)
