Having had to dig herself out of a deep hole against Chen Yu Fei in yesterday’s semifinal, An Se Young had promised she would be a different player in the final.

The annoyance with herself was evident, as was perhaps a hint of anger. She was unusually terse.

Akane Yamaguchi, more than any other player with the exception of Chen Yu Fei, knows what it takes to beat An Se Young. At their previous encounter last Sunday, she had the Singapore Open title almost in her grasp before it was wrenched away.

Today, after a tight opening game in which Yamaguchi patiently worked out her openings, An simply sped away. Nothing that Yamaguchi did in the second could distract the Olympic champion from her quest. The 23-21 21-12 victory for her ninth HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 title had taken her 39 minutes.

“I’m impressed with her, because she’s getting better and better every time I play her,” said Yamaguchi, with the smile of someone who knew that her opponent was unbeatable today. “If I can compare with our last match and now, she just got better – mentally, technically, everything was better. That’s why I couldn’t really do much.”

Compared to the previous day, the champion looked like a weight had fallen off her shoulders. “This means a lot. I don’t know… I’m so happy that I’ve won so many.

“I had to forget yesterday’s play. Today’s a new day and I had to focus on today’s match. I just focussed on one point at a time, and I didn’t follow the points (on the scoreboard) and that’s why I got a good result.”

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