An Se Young cemented her status as badminton’s most dominant force by collecting her third French Open title, dismantling Wang Zhi Yi 21-13 21-7 in 42 minutes on finals day at YONEX French Open 2025.

The Olympic champion’s ninth title of 2025 places her within touching distance of Kento Momota’s record of 11 tournament wins in a single season. The 23-year-old also made history at the Glaz Arena as the first women’s singles player in the World Tour era to complete a French Open hattrick, having also won in 2019 and 2024.

“I can’t put my emotions into words,” said An post-match. “I’m proud of myself. Self-belief is the best weapon you can have during those moments.”

An’s stranglehold over Wang is absolute. The pair have met seven times this year and always in a final, with the Korean winning each encounter. Fresh from a draining semifinal against Chen Yu Fei, An credited her conditioning for the rout.

“I’m a little younger than Wang and I had a quick recovery. I prepare and try not to make any mistakes, keep running and not give up. I needed to be accurate with my corner shots.”

Her dominance extends across the Super 750s, where she has claimed five of the six titles on offer this season. The only one she missed out on was the Singapore Open.

Compatriots Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae delivered a more dramatic performance, storming back from a game down to defeat Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 9-21 21-13 21-12.

The world No.1s absorbed everything the Indonesians threw at them, with Seo enduring the brute force of Alfian’s smashes.

“I had nothing to do but receive those big smashes. Until the shuttle hits the floor, we have to do our best and put maximum effort into it.”

The win marked the pair’s ninth title of their season, matching the achievement of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Gideon from 2018. Like An, they have claimed five of the six Super 750 titles this year.

“To be on the list of such legendary players is a big honour,” Seo said. “We still have some tournaments left this year. We will try our best for better results.”

Between victories, the Koreans found time to savour their French experience in Rennes.

“When we come to Europe, we try to enjoy the landscape,” Kim reflected. “We’ve done some walking around Rennes. To live a life where I can travel as I do is a big joy.”

→ Results (Finals)

WHAT OTHERS SAID

“We focus on ourselves, solving problems and improving ourselves.” – Huang Dong Ping after claiming consecutive titles with Feng Yan Zhe, defeating Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran 27-25 21-12

“Since January it’s been a long journey to reach this point. In France, I’ve had some good results. I’m happy I could play in the final and win. I love France. There’s an emotional feeling there. I like the shopping too.” – Mayu Matsumoto

“It felt very different from the other days, maybe with a bit more pressure, but there were a lot of positive things, good energy through the crowd and Anders playing well. We, as players work hard to show results and consistency. It’s difficult to always play at the same level but I’ve done that over the past four-five months.” – Christo Popov on his progress after losing his first Super 750 final to Anders Antonsen

“I feel pure joy, relief seeing that last shuttle not go over the net. It’s an unbelievable feeling. I pushed myself so hard this week, I fought through so much pain. There have been blisters, injuries, no sleep and very tough matches. No words to describe how proud I am.” – Anders Antonsen almost didn’t make it to the start line but came off the eventual winner