An Se-young Chases 11th Title at Korea Open 2026

World No. 1 An Se-young took another step towards a piece of badminton history on Thursday, sweeping aside Malaysia's Karupathevan Letshanaa 21-10, 21-12 in just 36 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the Korea Open 2026 in Yeosu. The win stretched the South Korean's remarkable winning streak to 52 matches and kept alive her pursuit of an 11th title of the season — a mark no player has ever reached in back-to-back years.

Playing in front of her home fans at the Jinnam Gymnasium, An was in complete control from the first rally. She opened the match with five straight points, and although Letshanaa briefly closed to 10-7, An answered with eight consecutive points to take the first game 21-10. The second game followed a similar pattern: a 5-0 start, a four-point burst at 13-8, and a 21-12 finish that sealed the straight-games victory.

It was the second ruthless display in as many days from the 24-year-old. On Wednesday she had opened her campaign with a 21-6, 21-8 demolition of Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova in 39 minutes, a match in which her opponent managed just 14 points across two games. Two matches, two opponents, and a combined 78 minutes on court — An has barely broken sweat in Yeosu so far.

A season unlike any other

The numbers behind An's 2026 season are becoming difficult to believe. Thursday's win improved her record for the year to 68 wins and a single defeat — a 98.55 per cent win rate — and took her winning streak to 52 matches. She arrived in Yeosu with 10 titles already banked this season, and one more would make her the first player ever to win 11 titles in consecutive seasons, having also reached that total in 2025.

A Korea Open triumph would also be her third at her home tournament, following victories in 2022 and 2023. Only one other woman has won the Korea Open three times: South Korean legend Bang Soo-hyun, who lifted the title in 1993, 1994 and 1996. An would be matching a hero of the sport on home soil — a fitting stage for the coronation of a historic season.

Victory on Sunday would also bring up the 49th career title of a player who is still only 24. And yet, for all the dominance, An nearly did not play this week at all. She had considered withdrawing from the Korea Open before deciding to compete in front of her home supporters. She has already confirmed she will skip next week's Kumamoto Masters in Japan, underlining that Yeosu is a deliberate, targeted stop in her calendar rather than a routine appearance.

Letshanaa takes pride in the fight

For Letshanaa, the world No. 28, the defeat was harsh but not without honour. Malaysian media noted that even scoring 22 points across two games against An — the most dominant player the women's game has seen in years — was something to be proud of. The Malaysian had earned her place in the last 16 with a solid opening-round win, but found herself up against a player who has now won 52 matches in a row and shows no sign of slowing down.

The gulf between An and the rest of the women's singles field has become the defining story of the 2026 season. Her only defeat of the year remains a solitary blemish on a record that now reads 68-1, and every tournament she enters has become a question not of whether she will win, but of how quickly she will do it.

Top seed Chou crashes out as the draw opens up

The men's singles draw, by contrast, lost its top seed on Wednesday. Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen was stunned by compatriot Wang Yu-Kai, who rallied from a game down to win 21-18, 16-21, 21-12 in their first-round meeting. It was one of several upsets on a busy opening day in Yeosu, and it leaves the men's title race wide open heading into the quarter-finals on Friday.

Elsewhere in the men's draw, Japan's Yushi Tanaka beat Indonesia's Moh. Zaki Ubaidillah 21-13, 21-17, while South Korea's Kim Hae Deun came from a game down to defeat Indonesia's Muhamad Yusuf 17-21, 21-12, 21-14. Home favourite Yoo Tae Bin also impressed, beating India's H. S. Prannoy 23-21, 21-15 in 47 minutes after recovering from 12-7 down in the opening game.

India's campaign ends in the round of 16

India's interest in the Korea Open came to an end on Thursday, with both of the country's remaining women's singles players losing in the last 16. Tanvi Sharma, who had won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open earlier this year, went down 18-21, 12-21 to Japan's fifth seed Hina Akechi in 37 minutes. Akechi extended her head-to-head lead over the Indian to 3-1.

Anmol Kharb, the Hylo Open semi-finalist who had beaten Canada's Rachel Chan 21-19, 21-18 in the first round, pushed second seed Akane Yamaguchi hard in both games before losing 18-21, 18-21. Yamaguchi's experience proved decisive in the closing points of each game, and the Japanese star moves on to the quarter-finals.

It was a disappointing end to the week for India, made sharper by the absence of the country's two biggest names. Hylo Open champion Lakshya Sen withdrew from the Korea Open after his title-winning run in Germany, while P. V. Sindhu also skipped the tournament to rest ahead of the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals. Sindhu's decision was confirmed on Wednesday, when the BWF announced her qualification for the Finals in Hangzhou from December 9 to 13 — her sixth appearance at the event and her first since 2021.

Malaysian doubles pairs march into the last eight

Malaysia found better news in the men's doubles, where two pairs reached the quarter-finals. World No. 9 pair Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun, winners of the French Open last month, beat Chinese Taipei's Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh 24-22, 21-12 in 33 minutes and will meet Japan's Haruki Kawabe and Kenta Matsukawa in the last eight as they chase a second World Tour title of the year.

Chia Wei Jie and Teo Ee Yi joined them with a 21-9, 21-19 win over Chinese Taipei's He Zhi Wei and Huang Jui Hsuan, following their first-round upset of China's world No. 11 pair Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi. In mixed doubles, Hoo Pang Ron and Lai Pei Jing opened with a 30-minute 21-10, 21-14 win over Thailand's Saeheng brothers and now face a home pair in the second round.

What to watch next

The Korea Open, a Super 500 event with a $500,000 prize purse, runs until Sunday, November 8. The quarter-finals take place on Friday, with An Se-young one win away from the semi-finals and two from a final that would put her on the brink of history.

For the chasing pack, the task is clear and daunting: beat a player who has not lost in 52 matches. For An, the maths is simple. Two more wins in Yeosu and she stands alone — the first player in badminton history to win 11 titles in two consecutive seasons, and the joint-most successful woman ever at her home Open. The home crowd in Yeosu will be expecting nothing less.

Sources: Badminton Planet, Star News Korea, Revsportz, Khel Khiladis, Malaysia Brief, MyKhel, BWF World Tour. Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), used for illustration — An Se-young match photo by De-Shao Liu, portrait by Nardisoero, shuttlecock photo by Syed Ahmad Fathi.