The door Akane Yamaguchi had been knocking on for six matches finally opened on Saturday at KFF Singapore Open 2026.

The Japanese women’s singles star ended a frustrating run of six defeats to Wang Zhi Yi with a hard-earned 21-13 17-21 21-15 victory, booking her place in a second straight final after winning Thailand Open two Sundays ago.

Curiously, Yamaguchi never treated the losing streak as a puzzle that needed solving.

“I never bothered so much about past results,” she said. “I only think about the match at hand and how I can improve myself. That’s all I have in mind.”

That mindset showed. Calm and composed throughout, Yamaguchi kept errors to a minimum while making Wang work for every point.

“I made very few mistakes so I was able to play calmly,” she said.

The signs had been there – Wang needed three games to beat Yamaguchi in last month’s Asia Championships semifinal and again at the Uber Cup earlier this month. This time, the fine margins tilted the other way.

“The last time I lost by a narrow margin,” Yamaguchi reflected. “A lot of times it has to do with the environment, maybe it’s the air conditioning, maybe it’s the spectators. Perhaps this time the environment caused Wang to make more mistakes than she would have liked.”

Yamaguchi’s trademark court coverage was also impossible to miss. While both players spent plenty of time scrambling, the Japanese star seemed to spring back to her feet almost instantly after every desperate retrieval.

“Regaining my posture and getting up quickly is truly something I always aim for,” she said.

The victory sent Yamaguchi into her first final above Super 500 level since winning the Japan Open in August 2024. It also keeps alive her quest to claim one of the titles missing from her collection, having finished runner-up in Singapore in 2023.

Between her and the trophy is a familiar obstacle: two-time champion An Se Young, who reached her third Singapore Open final after defeating Chen Yu Fei 20-22 21-12 21-15.

It means another puzzle awaits Yamaguchi – the world No.3 has not beaten An in three meetings since the Korea Open final last September.