(Asiad) Top-ranked shuttler An Se-young cruises into women's singles final

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- World No. 1 An Se-young eased into the women's singles final in badminton at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan on Monday, giving herself a chance to make history.

An dispatched Chen Yufei of China 2-0 (21-5, 21-12) in the semifinals at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Ichinomiya, just northwest of the main host city, Nagoya.

An will now try to become the first player to win back-to-back women's singles gold medals in Asian Games history. The women's singles event was first contested in 1962.

In a rematch of the 2023 Asiad gold medal game, An continued her dominance against her longtime Chinese rival. An scored the first nine points of the opening game to set the tone. In the second game after Chen overcame a 5-1 early deficit to pull into a 6-6 tie, An scored five consecutive points to pull ahead again.

An has now won five straight meetings against Chen.

In Tuesday's final, An will face Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. An has won her past eight meetings against Yamaguchi, including their singles match during the team event here last week.

Earlier on Monday, Lee So-hee and Baek Hana reached their second straight women's doubles final, thanks to a 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) win over Kie Nakanishi and Rin Uesaka of Japan. Lee and Baek, who won silver in 2023, will try to become the first South Korean women's doubles team to claim an Asiad gold since 2002.

Lee and Baek lost both of their matches during the team competition last week as South Korea settled for bronze in its title defense.

Lee and Baek bounced back Monday with a clinical performance against the Japanese duo.

With the score knotted at 7-7 in the first game, Lee and Baek pulled away with seven consecutive points and ended up winning the frame by eight.

South Korea clung to an 8-7 lead in the second game before reeling off eight unanswered points en route to a comfortable win.

Lee and Baek will face the world No. 1 team from China, Lin Shengshu and Tan Ning, in the final set for Tuesday.

The South Koreans defeated Lin and Tan in the World Championships final in August, ending a five-match losing streak against the Chinese.

In the men's doubles, South Korea's world No. 1 duo of Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae dropped to Daniel Marthin and Leo Rolly Carnando of Indonesia in the semifinals by 2-0 (21-11, 21-14) in just 32 minutes.

With no third-place matches in badminton, Kim and Seo took home bronze.

The South Koreans kept it close early in the first game, but their 6-5 deficit quickly turned into a 17-8 hole before the Indonesians won the opening frame by 10 points.

Indonesia started the second game on a 6-0 run, and South Korea never put up much of a fight.

Kim and Seo enjoyed a dominant 2025 season by winning 11 international titles, including their first world championship together. This year, however, their title drought has now reached seven international competitions.

South Korea has not had an Asiad men's doubles champion since 2002. Kim won silver in 2023 with a different partner, Choi Sol-gyu.

Yoo Tae-bin added a second bronze medal for South Korea in badminton Monday, following a 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 21-12) loss to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men's singles semifinals.

This was South Korea's first medal in the men's singles since 2010.

Yoo, ranked 46th, took down a couple of top-10 players on his way to the semifinals -- sixth-ranked Shi Yuqi of China and No. 7 Kodai Naraoka of Japan.