Bali: Korea’s 19-year-old women’s singles player – An Seyoung finally able to beat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in their fourth meeting since Oct 15, 2021, to claim the 2021 Indonesia Masters title on Sunday.
An Seyoung, who was seeded fourth, pulled off an upset to beat the No. 1 seed Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-19 in just 39 minutes.
Before Sunday’s Indonesia Masters final, An had suffered two consecutive defeats to Yamaguchi when she had to retire in the third set of the 2021 Denmark Open final due to injury, then lost the rubber game to the Japanese in the 2021 French Open semi-finals. Nevertheless, An was able to beat Yamaguchi 21-14, 21-7 on Oct 15 in the Uber Cup tie between Japan and Korea.
Sunday’s victory was the first Indonesia Masters title for An as well as her first BWF World Tour title since winning the 2019 Korea Masters.
“I am very happy to win and not get injured. It has been a long time since I stood on the podium,” said An.
“I’ve learned from my previous two defeats to Yamaguchi. By now, I know her strengths and weaknesses very well, that’s how I won,” added An.
“Akane is too strong in rallying. Therefore, I just tried to press her from the start,” said the World No. 6 women’s singles player from Korea.
“I am going to take a short break before playing at the Indonesia Open which will start on Tuesday,” explained An.
In the women’s doubles final, Japan’s No. 4 seeds Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida put on a commanding performance to beat Korea’s unseeded pair Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong 21-9, 21-11.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s mixed doubles No. 1 seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai eased past No. 8 seeds Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong to win the Indonesia Masters title.
