In another big step towards achieving greatness, 17-year old An Se Young of South Korea defeated her senior compatriot Sung Ji Hyun to capture the women's singles title of BWF World Tour Super 300 Korea Masters title. This victory comes just a few weeks after her breakthrough triumph in the Super 750 French Open event.
In a surprisingly one-sided contest that lasted for just 45 minutes, An got the better of Sung 21-13, 21-17. Sung, who has been without a major title for a long time, will have to continue her wait.
The match started with a couple of good cross-court smashes from the senior player which suggested she was up for the challenge. However, An soon got herself going. The teenager was playing a good all-round game. Her crisp and well-placed cross-court smashes along with great retrieving took her ahead of the former World no. 1 at the mid-game interval.
After the break, her play became even better as she starting building up a healthy lead over Sung Ji Hyun. The latter seemed unable to answer the great shot-making and tenacious retrieving of An. The first game was easily captured by the rising star.
The second game was also heading the way of An and she seemed destined for an easy victory. However, Sung wasn't going to go down without a fight. She started fighting back thanks to some wonderful smashes of her own and also greater perseverance in sending back shots from the other side.
From 11-15 down, the former Sung leveled the score and even went into the lead. But one always felt that Se Young can take the game to the next gear. This is exactly what she did and finished off the match without much more fuss.
An Se Young didn't just win this tournament, she did so without dropping a single game. This included her semi-final against top-seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. The maturity that the South Korean teenager shows in her game suggests more great results ahead. Badminton fans would love to see more matches of her against top players in the coming days.
