An Se-young Wins Ninth Title of Season After Denmark Open Comeback Against Yamaguchi

Six points behind, An finds a way to win

An Se-young recovered from a 5-11 deficit in the deciding game and discomfort around her right foot to beat Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the Denmark Open final on October 18, 2026. The South Korean world No. 1 won 21-23, 21-14, 21-18 at SJF Bank Arena in Odense, securing her second consecutive title at the tournament.

The victory took An's season record to 61 wins and one defeat, a winning percentage of 98.4%, and extended her winning streak to 44 matches. Against Yamaguchi, ranked third in the world, she has now won 10 consecutive meetings.

The final lasted 79 minutes. Yamaguchi took the opening game, threatened to pull away in the third and repeatedly challenged An near the finish. An answered with decisive runs of points in both games she won, turning a difficult afternoon into another successful title defence.

Denmark was her ninth international championship of the season under the tally comprising six Badminton World Federation World Tour titles, the Asian Championships, the World Championships and Asian Games gold. Her season total has also been listed as 10, although that figure conflicts with the stated breakdown of six tour titles and three other championships.

Yamaguchi takes the opening advantage

Yamaguchi arrived with a chance to reverse a difficult recent record against An, including defeat in the Asian Games final the previous month. Her performance in the opening game showed how much resistance she could still offer.

An trailed 4-6 before winning six consecutive points to lead 10-6. She reached the interval ahead 11-8 and later held an 18-15 advantage, putting her within three points of taking the game.

Yamaguchi recovered to draw level at 18-18, and the contest reached 20-20. At that stage, a player needs a lead of two points to win the game. Yamaguchi handled the closing exchanges better and took it 23-21 after an error from An.

The opening game gave Yamaguchi both a lead and evidence that she could disrupt An's rhythm. An had built useful advantages twice, yet neither had been enough to close out the game.

Two bursts of scoring change the final

An's recovery began in the second game, but it was not immediate. Yamaguchi continued to trouble her with accurate shots near the net and led 11-8 at the interval.

An was still behind at 11-13 when she produced seven consecutive points. That run carried her to 18-13 and changed the direction of the game. She completed a 21-14 win to level the match at one game each.

Yamaguchi then made the stronger start to the deciding game. An fell behind 2-6, experienced discomfort around her right foot and checked the area before continuing. Yamaguchi extended her lead to 9-3 and reached the interval ahead 11-5.

The six point gap was the largest deficit described in the detailed scoring sequence. An reduced it to 9-12, then won seven consecutive points to move ahead 16-12. Across that stretch, Yamaguchi's shots increasingly found the net or went beyond the court.

An also gained a point after challenging a call on a diagonal smash. The shot was initially called out, but video review changed the decision to in. A challenge lets a player request an electronic check of where the shuttle landed.

Yamaguchi kept pursuing the lead and narrowed the margin to two points on three occasions. An reached championship point at 20-17, meaning she needed one more point to win the match. Yamaguchi saved the first opportunity, but her final return went out, completing An's 21-18 victory.

Foot discomfort puts the next tournament in focus

An's physical condition became part of the contest early in the third game. Descriptions of the problem range from discomfort in her right foot or ankle to pain near the Achilles tendon, the tissue connecting the calf muscles to the heel.

No medical diagnosis or assessment of the severity was announced. An continued playing, with less jumping and more controlled movement as she worked her way back into the deciding game.

The immediate practical issue is the short gap before her next competition. An was scheduled to move on to the French Open beginning October 20, just two days after the Denmark final.

An had already missed the Japan Open because of injury earlier in the season. Her ability to finish in Odense therefore sits alongside a demanding next step: travelling to France and preparing for another tournament almost immediately.

What 61 wins in 62 matches means

An's 61-1 record gives her a winning percentage of about 98.4%, calculated by dividing 61 victories by 62 matches. Her only defeat this season came in the All England Open final in March.

The Denmark victory also extended her current run to 44 consecutive match wins. Those two figures describe different achievements: the season record includes every match she has played this year, while the streak counts the uninterrupted run since her last defeat.

Her nine titles span the World Tour and three major championships outside that tour tally. Denmark is a Super 750 event, a tournament category within the BWF World Tour. The Asian Championships, World Championships and Asian Games are separate competitions, which explains why her international title total is larger than her number of tour victories.

An began collecting titles at the Malaysia Open in January. In September, she became the first player to win consecutive Asian Games women's singles championships, again beating Yamaguchi in the final.

The main milestones leading into her next tournament are:

• January: An won the Malaysia Open.
• March: She suffered her only defeat of the season in the All England Open final.
• September: She retained the Asian Games women's singles title.
• October 18: She won the Denmark Open for a second consecutive year.
• October 20: The French Open was scheduled to begin.

A rivalry increasingly tilted toward An

An's latest victory moved her career record against Yamaguchi to 24 wins and 15 losses across 39 meetings. Ten consecutive victories have changed the balance of a rivalry that was once much closer.

Subtracting that winning run from the current total shows that An had 14 wins and 15 losses in their first 29 encounters. She has moved from narrowly trailing their career meetings to holding a lead of nine victories.

Yamaguchi nevertheless presented a much tougher final in Odense than at the Asian Games, where An won in two games. In Denmark, she took the opening game and led by six points midway through the decider.

An reached the final after beating Ukraine's Polina Bukhrova, Denmark's Line Christophersen, India's Tanvi Sharma and Japan's Nozomi Okuhara. Her semifinal victory over Okuhara came by scores of 21-16, 21-8 and left her with a season record of 60-1 before the title match.

Yamaguchi earned her place by defeating China's world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi 21-10, 21-19. The final therefore brought together two players who had each beaten a leading opponent convincingly, before producing a much longer contest against each other.

Denmark celebrates five champions

Badminton Denmark placed An's achievement at the centre of its tournament closing statement, describing the South Korean, aged 24, as the most successful women's singles player in the sport's history. The federation did not give a career title count or specify the categories used for that comparison.

The event ran for six days in Odense and concluded with champions from five countries across its five disciplines. France's Alex Lanier won the men's singles title, defeating Denmark's Anders Antonsen in the final.

China's Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin took the mixed doubles championship, beating compatriots Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 21-18, 8-21, 21-16. Malaysia's Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan won the women's doubles title, while Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri won the men's doubles.

South Korea's world No. 1 men's doubles pair, Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, had been eliminated in the semifinals by Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. An supplied the South Korean title on the final day.

France offers the next test

An's next scheduled opponent was India's Pusarla V. Sindhu in the French Open round of 32. Wang and Yamaguchi were also due to compete, with another An-Yamaguchi meeting possible in the semifinals if both advanced.

An had previously won the French Open in 2019, 2024 and 2025. Another victory would give her a fourth title at the tournament and a tenth championship this season under the nine title tally following Denmark.

She also has a recent benchmark to pursue. In 2025, An won 11 titles, matching Japan's Kento Momota for the most singles titles in one season across the men's and women's competitions. Her Denmark victory moved her within two titles of that total, with the next event arriving almost immediately.

Key Points

• An Se-young beat Akane Yamaguchi 21-23, 21-14, 21-18 in the Denmark Open final.
• She recovered from 5-11 in the deciding game while experiencing discomfort around her right foot.
• The victory extended her winning streak to 44 matches and her season record to 61-1.
• An has won 10 consecutive matches against Yamaguchi and leads their career meetings 24-15.
• Denmark was her ninth title under the tally of six World Tour victories and three other championships.
• Her next scheduled tournament was the French Open, beginning October 20.