Badminton queen An Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance beat teammate Kim Ga-eun to reach the semifinals of the 2026 Badminton World Federation World Tour China Masters, a Super 750 event.
The world No. 1 needed just 37 minutes to dispatch Kim, ranked 12th, 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) in the women's singles quarterfinals at Shenzhen Arena in Shenzhen, China, on the 4th.
An will face Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, ranked third, for a place in the final. Yamaguchi advanced by beating Supanida Katethong of Thailand, ranked 30th.
Momentum is on An's side. She has won six consecutive meetings against Yamaguchi, including a victory in the world championship final in August.
If she reaches the final, An will likely meet China's Wang Zhiyi, ranked second, for the title.
The tournament is drawing attention as a warm-up for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which open on the 19th.
An showed her form early in the season by winning the Malaysia Open, the Indonesia Open, the India Open and the Singapore Open.
She then won the Asian Badminton Championships, completing a grand slam after the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the 2023 world championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
An aims to win a third straight title at this tournament before heading to the Asian Games in Japan, where she is seeking a second consecutive gold medal.
The match opened tightly. An and Kim traded points, and the score remained level at 6-6.
An then rattled off consecutive points to open a 18-9 lead and took the first game 21-11.
Her advantage continued in the second game, where composed defense unsettled Kim. An closed out the match by taking the game 21-10.
