KUCHING: China’s Wang Zhiyi defeated South Korea’s An Se-young to clinch the women’s singles title at the All England Open Badminton Championships on Sunday.
Wang sealed a 21-15, 21-19 victory in 59 minutes to claim her first title at the prestigious tournament while ending a 10-match losing streak against the world No.1.
“The key to today’s victory was my mindset against my opponent,” said Wang.
“In previous matches, I couldn’t sustain rallies for that long, but today I managed to do it and my opponent made some mistakes.”
The win also snapped An’s remarkable 36-match winning streak and handed Wang her first title of the season as well as the 12th of her career.
Despite the defeat, An still holds a commanding lead in their head-to-head record at 18-4 after 22 career meetings.
Wang controlled the opening game to take it 21-15 but was pushed in the second as the reigning Olympic champion surged into an early lead.
The Chinese shuttler regrouped to reach match point at 20-16 before An saved three consecutive points to close the gap to 20-19.
However, Wang kept her composure in the decisive rally to seal the win.
The triumph also ended China’s wait for a women’s singles champion at the All England since Chen Yufei lifted the trophy in 2019.
