At noon on Sunday 18 January, quite a number of fans flocked to the Indira Gandhi International Stadium. Many of them must have known they couldn’t afford to be late, not when they planned to watch An Se-young in action. Ask the author: a bad turn can cost you the game or even the match itself. If you’ve followed the tour over the past few years, you’d know that the inevitable happens more often than not.
Because reigning Olympic champion An Se-young waits for no one. During this week in Delhi, she was not waiting for anyone. Even as off-field issues overshadowed the game in the capital, An put bums in the seats and captivated the crowd with her utter invincibility.
An faced world number two Wang Zhi-yi for the second time this year, and for the 10th time in the past 14 months, she was looking to defend her crown and lay down a marker for the venue to host the world championships later in August. And she did it in style.
It was Ana’s sixth title on the trot as she picked up where she left off in 2025 – a year in which she redefined what was possible in women’s singles: 73 wins to 4 losses and 11 titles in 12 finals.
There were quite a few Korean fans who came to see An Se-young WIN. Remarkably, none of them had the nerves that usually come with supporting their player in the finals of a Super 750 tournament. They looked as calm and casual as neutral fans, knowing that the inevitable would soon happen again.
And they turned out to be right. Se-young needed just 43 minutes to beat Wang Zhi-yi 21-13, 21-11 to clinch her second straight India Open women’s singles title.
NO. 1 vs 2 BUT NO CONTEST
It didn’t feel like a competition between world number one and world number two. The gulf between An, who is redefining consistency at the elite level, and Wang was too huge to ignore. Last year, Wang met An eight times and lost all of them. An has already played twice this year, both in the finals – Malaysia Open and India Open – and didn’t stand a chance.
If you’re a Chinese fan, though, there’s a silver lining: Wang let An stay on court the longest this week in Delhi. It was 43 minutes. Her earlier rounds were closed even faster as she raced to the title without dropping a game – or, to be precise, without looking like she might drop one.
Interestingly, at no point in the match was Wang An leading. The closest it came to a shutout after the opening exchanges was 15-13 in the opening game. However, An then shifted into sixth gear and crossed the finish line.
Wang entered the second game trying to be more active. She messed up the game, trying to be deceptive and force An into a guessing game. But it only took a few exchanges for An to figure out what her Chinese rival was up to. The tactical mind, wonder of the world, worked. An and Wang went into the break in the second game at 11-7; Wang then scored only four points.
It could be seen in the faces of the Korean fans; they weren’t there for the excitement of the final. They were there to witness the dominance being asserted and were brimming with pride.
“Yes, really. I’m so happy to win the match. I beat her, I’m so happy,” An said after extending her head-to-head record against the world number two to 18-4 overall and 10-0 since 2025.
“I’m trying my best not to lose. I know that every player wants to win against me. But, that’s also a motivation for me to be in the best condition and not lose,” she answered when asked if she felt invincible.
A WALK IN THE PARK
From the moment An stepped onto the court to massive cheers from the crowd, An looked ready for what felt like a formality. From her menacingly intense warm-up routines to her complete control of exchanges, An looked more like an orchestrator than a badminton player.
Wang fought point against point, like a player defending a lost chess position, while An played several moves forward.
From the courtyard to the back court, conditions dictated. It was as if the ball was under a spell cast by the South Korean. While her offensive game was top notch, the difference was her ability to be everywhere on the court. One could feel Wang’s helplessness from 20 rows away. Imagine a Chinese coach box; how frustrated they must have felt.
Whenever Wang tried to lift long or engage An near the net, the Korean was in perfect position. Before you could even look up after playing a shot, An would be at the net already anticipating the next move.
“She’s steady at the net and she’s fast. She’s strong, she’s comprehensively good in all aspects,” Wang said of her opponent.
At this point, no one seems to know how to stop An Se-young. It has remained so in Delhi, and it might continue to do so for some time to come. He will return again in August. And many of those Korean fans who were there on Sunday may return – perhaps not expecting the thrill of the competition, but simply to see their star perform his magic and roll the pitch.
Are you brave enough to doubt it?
– The end
Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
January 18, 2026