Badminton star An Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance brushed aside Japanese contender Akane Yamaguchi and now needs just one more win to claim a third straight China Masters title.
An, ranked No. 1 in the world, defeated Yamaguchi, ranked third, 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in the women's singles semifinal of the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour China Masters (Super 750) held on the 5th in Shenzhen, China.
An will face Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan, ranked ninth, in the final. The champion will receive $87,500, or about 120 million won.
Miyazaki booked her place in the final the same day by beating China's Wang Zhi Yi, ranked second, 2-0 (21-19, 23-21).
An has won all seven of her previous meetings with Miyazaki. Their most recent encounter came at the Asian Championships in April, where An beat Miyazaki 2-0 (21-16, 21-10) in the quarterfinals.
The tournament serves as an effective warm-up for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which open on the 19th.
An opened the season with a dominant run, winning the Malaysia Open, the Indonesia Open, the India Open and the Singapore Open in succession.
She then took the Asian Championships title, completing a career grand slam after the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Her season was interrupted in July, however, when a left foot injury forced her to withdraw from the Japan Open in the round of 16 and then skip the China Open, keeping her off the court for a stretch.
Back from the injury, An reclaimed the world title at the World Championships on the 23rd of last month, her first in three years, confirming her return to the top of the sport.
After completing a third consecutive China Masters title, An will chase a second straight Asian Games gold in Japan.
The match was settled in 43 minutes.
In the first game, An reeled off five straight points from 6-6 to lead 11-6 at the interval. She controlled the game on both offense and defense to take the opening game with ease. Yamaguchi, blunted by An's quick defense and precise attacking, struggled to find a way back.
An seized the initiative early in the second game, taking six consecutive points from the start. At 15-9, she landed a sharp cross-court winner that caught her opponent off guard.
With the match in hand, An maintained the gap to the finish, closing out the second game 21-15 to secure her place in the final.
Elsewhere, women's singles players Kim Ga-eun of Samsung Life Insurance and Sim Yu-jin of Incheon International Airport were eliminated in the quarterfinals and the round of 16, respectively. In men's doubles, the pairing of Kang Min-hyuk of Samsung Life Insurance and Ki Dong-ju of Incheon International Airport, along with Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, both of Samsung Life Insurance, went out in the round of 32.
