An Se-young reaches Denmark Open final against Akane Yamaguchi

An Se-young reached the Denmark Open women’s singles final by beating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-16, 21-8 in Odense. The world No. 1 will face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, ranked third, who defeated China’s second-ranked Wang Zhiyi in straight games in the other semifinal. An will seek her ninth individual title of the season at the BWF World Tour Super 750 event. [ 5 , 6 , 8 ]

Yonhap and Seoul Economic Daily reported that An completed the semifinal in 36 minutes. In the first game she trailed 5-6 before taking three consecutive points and moving ahead. She maintained her advantage to take the opener, then conceded eight points in the second game. Yonhap reported that she had completed every match from the opening round through the semifinal in less than 40 minutes. [ 5 , 6 ]

The victory took An’s record for the year to 60 wins and one defeat in 61 matches, a winning percentage of 98.4%. She has won her past nine meetings with Yamaguchi, including their recent Asian Games final. That win made An the first player to retain the Asian Games women’s singles title, according to Yonhap. Newsis reported that she was also bidding to retain the Denmark Open crown she won last year. [ 5 , 8 ]

Reports differed on the timing of the semifinal. Yonhap and Seoul Economic Daily placed it on October 17 in Korean time, while Newsis gave October 18 in Korean time. CBS described it as October 17 local time and put the final on October 18. CBS also gave a six-minute match duration, whereas Yonhap and Seoul Economic Daily reported 36 minutes. [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]