South Korea’s An, Frenchman Popov win badminton World Tour Finals

HANGZHOU (Agencies): South Korea’s An Se-young won the women’s World Tour Finals with a 21-13 18-21 21-10 win over defending champion Wang Zhiyi, while France’s Christo Popov beat world champion Shi Yuqi 21-19 21-9 to win the men’s title on Sunday. With her 11th title in 2025, An equalled Japan men’s great Kento Momota’s record of most titles in a calendar year in singles competition, while Popov became the first French player to win the year-ending championships. Paris Olympics champion An engaged in a marathon contest of 96 minutes against Wang, with both players using their speed to get early points. The Chinese player targeted her opponent’s forehand and stretched out rallies to tire her out. But An put Wang under severe pressure by using sharp shot placements and stable defence to take advantage, before mixing up smashes to take a one-game lead. Wang caught An out of position in the second game to show signs of revival. Tiredness in a contest of long rallies meant unforced errors crept in for the South Korean and her Chinese opponent pushed the game to a decider.

Tremendous defence from An on the backcourt allowed her to cover a lot of ground in the final game despite suffering leg cramps as she again employed smashes to trouble Wang and claim her second title at the season finale. In the men’s title match, Popov’s fast-paced rallies wore down Shi as the French 23-year-old upset the Chinese world number one to become the third European to win in the category. Shi, looking to equal Viktor Axelsen’s record of winning the tournament three times, held his own early on and the first game hung in the balance at 16-16 before Popov won the next three points to take a decisive lead. A confident Popov pushed the pace in the second game as Shi, who won the World Tour Finals in 2018 and 2025, showed signs of fatigue, resulting in a dominant win for the Frenchman in the 45-minute clash.