South Koreas An wins World Tour Finals to equal calendar year title record

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FILE PHOTO: Badminton - BWF World Championships - Adidas Arena, Paris, France - August 31, 2025 Women singles bronze medallist South Koreas An Se-young celebrates on the podium REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File photo

HANGZHOU, China, Dec 21 - South Koreas An Se-young won the World Tour Finals with a 21-13 18-21 21-10 win over defending champion Wang Zhiyi on Sunday for her 11th title in 2025, equalling Japan great Kento Momotas record of most titles in a calendar year in singles competition.

An, the 2024 Paris Olympics champion, engaged in a marathon contest of 96 minutes against Wang, with both players using their speed to get early points. The Chinese player targeted her opponents forehand and stretched out rallies to tire her out.

But An put Wang under severe pressure by using sharp shot placements and stable defence to take advantage, before mixing up smashes to take a one-game lead.

Wang caught An out of position in the second game to show signs of revival. Tiredness in a contest of long rallies meant unforced errors crept in for the South Korean and her Chinese opponent pushed the game to a decider.

Tremendous defence from An on the back court allowed her to cover a lot of ground in the final game despite suffering leg cramps as she again employed smashes to trouble Wang and claim her second title at the season finale.

Frenchman Christo Popov faces world champion Shi Yuqi later on Sunday for the