Jonatan Christie broke a long spell of sub-par form to make his first final of the year since January, as he beat young compatriot Alwi Farhan in the semifinals of the SUWON VICTOR Korea Open 2025.

After finishing runner-up at the Indonesia Masters earlier this year, Christie hasn’t made it past the quarterfinals in eight tournaments. Today he had to battle hard against rising star Farhan, who took the opening game. Christie eventually hauled past him to make his third Korea Open final, 18-21 21-14 21-15.

“I was injured after the Indonesia Masters,” said a relieved Christie. “I needed time for rehab and to strengthen my muscles and get back my confidence.

“Farhan is playing very well, he’s very fast. I made too many mistakes after the break in the opening game after I was leading 11-7. He was more aggressive.”

“He’s my junior and I’m very happy to see him improve a lot. He has beaten beat Weng Hong Yang and Lin Chun-Yi, besides Anders Antonsen at the Sudirman Cup. He will be exciting to watch.

“I just want to enjoy my game, my second final this year.”

Christie faces familiar rival and 2023 champion Anders Antonsen, who overcame Chou Tien Chen in 81 minutes, 22-24 21-19 21-10.

“It’s one of those matches that went back and forth, and you end up on the winning side, so I’m super happy,” said Antonsen, who’s in his fourth final this year. “Got a good solid match, a hard battle and I’m happy with that. We are very equal, we have played some interesting matches always.

“Against Christie, I have a lot of respect, he’s an incredible player and on his best days he’s hard to beat. So I will be humble and do my best. It feels amazing to be in my second Korea Open final.”

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

» Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae are one win away from their eighth title of the season. They eased to a 21-16 21-12 win over Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, and will face the last pair to beat them – Muhammad Shohibul Fikri/Fajar Alfian, who also had a straight-games win in their semifinal against Lee Jhe Huei/Yang Po Hsuan.

» Women’s singles will be a battle between the Olympic and world champions, with An Se Young seeking her season’s eighth title against Akane Yamaguchi.

» Mixed doubles will be an all-China affair between top two pairs Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin and Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping.

» Women’s doubles will see top seeds Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi take on second seeds Kim Hye Jeong/Kong Hee Yong.

→ Results (Semifinals)

→ Order of play (Finals)

WHAT OTHERS SAID

“It’s an honour to win the semifinal in front of our home fans. We have one more match left so we will try our best. We are expecting a tough match against the Indonesians (Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri), particularly net play and mid-court, so we have to adapt.” – Won Ho

“The wind direction in the venue became a factor, which was another kind of test for us. In the first game, we fell quite far behind but at that moment we didn’t think about avoiding challenges or giving up — we just focused on catching up with them.” – Wei