An Se Young Reported Into Denmark Open Last 16 as Official Draw Shows Different Opponents

A 57th Victory in a Season With Just One Defeat

An Se Young was reported to have reached the Denmark Open last 16 with a 21-13, 21-11 victory over Ukraine's Polina Buhrova in Odense, taking her 2026 record to 57 wins from 58 matches. The world No. 1 from South Korea is pursuing her ninth title of the year after winning gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The opening match, dated October 14 in Korean time, was described as a 36-minute win at SJF Bank Arena. An, 24, of Samsung Life Insurance, reportedly took control through several bursts of consecutive points and finished without needing a deciding game.

A substantial discrepancy surrounds the opening opponent and the route through the tournament, however. The Badminton World Federation's official tournament draw lists India's P.V. Sindhu opposite An in the first round, while the match coverage names Buhrova. The published bracket also places several potential opponents in different positions from those described in the match coverage.

The BWF document lists the tournament for October 13-18 in Odense and identifies An as the top seed, with China's Wang Zhi Yi seeded second in the opposite half. Resolving the discrepancy requires an updated official draw or results record; the reason for the different matchups is not given.

How the Reported Opening Win Unfolded

An's reported victory over Buhrova, ranked No. 41, followed a similar pattern in both games: an early advantage, followed by a scoring run that widened the gap. In badminton, a match is normally decided by the first player to win two games, with each game played to 21 points, subject to rules for close finishes.

In the first game, An scored four consecutive points early on. When the score reached 13-10, she added another four without reply, moving to 17-10 before completing a 21-13 win.

The second game turned more decisively at 11-7. An won the next five points to reach 16-7 and went on to finish 21-11. Across the two games, the reported score gave her 42 points to Buhrova's 24, a margin of 18.

The 36-minute duration would give An a relatively brief start to a tournament requiring five victories for the women's singles title. With the French Open beginning the following week, keeping time on court down could help her manage a busy October schedule.

What the Official Bracket Sets Out

The BWF draw places An and Sindhu in the first opening pairing. Malaysia's K. Letshanaa and Denmark's Line Christophersen occupy the next pairing, making either player a possible second opponent for the winner of An's listed first match. The tournament preview also identified Sindhu as An's opening opponent and gave An a record of 10 wins from their 10 previous meetings.

The match coverage instead identifies Christophersen, ranked No. 12, as An's confirmed next opponent. It then describes a possible quarterfinal against Germany's Yvonne Li or India's Tanvi Sharma. In the official document, Yvonne Li is absent, while Sharma appears in a section containing Japan's Tomoka Miyazaki, Nozomi Okuhara and Natsuki Nidaira.

Those placements matter because a draw is a map of who can meet in each round. In the published bracket, Miyazaki is a potential quarterfinal opponent for An. The match coverage places a possible meeting between them in the semifinals.

Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon and China's Han Yue, seeded fourth and seventh respectively, are also in An's half of the official draw. Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani and Wang are in the other half, meaning a meeting with An would come in the final if both players advanced.

Eight Titles and a 98.28% Winning Rate

An's reported season record of 57 wins and one loss produces a winning percentage of 98.28%. Put simply, she has won approximately 98 of every 100 matches at that rate. Her only reported defeat came against Wang, the world No. 2, in the All England Open final in March.

Since that final, An has been unbeaten, according to the season account. The exact number of consecutive victories after the All England defeat is not specified. Her 57 victories cover the entire season, including matches played before that loss.

An already has eight women's singles titles in 2026. She finished the previous season with 11, described in the match coverage as a record for women's singles. Another Denmark Open title would take her to nine, two short of that total.

Winning both Denmark and the French Open would bring her to 10. That gives the European stretch a concrete place in her season: two successful tournaments would put her within one title of last year's tally. Both competitions still require her to work through their respective draws.

Odense Has Brought Injury, Defeat and a Breakthrough

An returns to Denmark as the defending champion after beating Wang in last year's final to win the tournament for the first time. That success followed two earlier finals that ended in disappointment.

In 2021, An retired injured during the final against Yamaguchi. In 2024, she reached the title match again but lost to Wang in two games. Her victory over Wang in 2025 reversed the outcome of that previous final and gave her a first Denmark Open trophy.

Her recent history at the event puts this year's campaign in context:

• 2021: An retired injured in the final against Akane Yamaguchi.
• 2024: She finished runner-up after losing to Wang Zhi Yi.
• 2025: She defeated Wang in the final to become Denmark Open champion.
• March 2026: Wang beat An in the All England Open final, her only reported loss this season.
• October 13-18, 2026: The Denmark Open takes place in Odense.
• October 20, 2026: The French Open is scheduled to begin.

Miyazaki Seeks Another Meeting With An

Miyazaki, the world No. 7 and Denmark's sixth seed, was reported to have beaten Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh 21-17, 21-17 on October 13. That account names fellow Japanese player Hina Akechi as her next opponent, followed by a possible quarterfinal against Okuhara or Taiwan's Chiu Pin-Chian.

Their previous Denmark Open meeting gives a potential encounter with An particular interest. In the 2025 quarterfinals, Miyazaki won the opening game 21-16 before An recovered to take the next two 21-9 and 21-6. After losing the first game, An conceded just 15 points across the remaining two.

The tournament preview gives An an 8-0 career record against Miyazaki. It also lists advantages of 15-1 against Intanon and 10-2 against Han. All three are seeded players in An's half of the official bracket, so those records help explain why she enters as a strong title contender.

Miyazaki arrived in Denmark after losing to China's Chen Yufei in the women's team final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Her reported opening victory in Odense offers a chance to build momentum after that disappointment, although the stage of any meeting with An depends on the tournament's confirmed bracket.

A Busy European Stretch Before a Tournament Upgrade

The Denmark Open follows a pause in the World Tour calendar for the Asian Games. An enters the European stretch as the reigning Olympic and world champion as well as the newly crowned Asian Games champion, adding to the attention around her pursuit of another title.

Odense is the second of four consecutive European stops in October, after the Arctic Open in Finland and before the French Open. For players travelling between them, the schedule combines repeated competition with limited time between events.

The men's top seed, Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn, also arrived as an Asian Games champion. He returned to the tour at the Arctic Open, where he reached the quarterfinals, and was drawn against Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in Odense. Their previous seven meetings had produced four wins for Kunlavut.

The Denmark Open is a Super 750 tournament this season. That label identifies its level within the BWF World Tour, which groups events into tiers. It is scheduled to become a Super 1000 event in 2027, joining the tour's five biggest stops.

For An, the immediate goal remains retaining a title she first won last year. Her reported opening score and season record describe a player sustaining exceptional results, while the official bracket provides a different map of the opponents standing between her and another final.

Key Points

• An Se Young was reported to have beaten Polina Buhrova 21-13, 21-11 in 36 minutes to reach the Denmark Open last 16.
• The BWF's official draw lists P.V. Sindhu as An's opening opponent and differs from the match coverage on later pairings.
• An's reported 2026 record is 57 wins and one loss, a winning percentage of 98.28%.
• She has eight titles this season and is defending the Denmark Open crown she first won in 2025.
• The tournament runs October 13-18 in Odense, with the French Open beginning October 20.
• The Denmark Open is scheduled to move from Super 750 to Super 1000 status in 2027.