Second French Open crown for Se-young
World No. 1 An Se-young picked up her second women’s singles crown at the French Open on Sunday when she survived a determined Akane Yamaguchi from Japan in the final at the Adidas Arena in Paris.
The 22-year-old South Korean, who had started the year with the Malaysian Open title, showed plenty of grit against the twice French Open winner (2018 and 2021) Yamaguchi.
The pint-sized Yamaguchi had taken the first set 21-18 before Se-young then turned on the power to take the next two sets 21-13, 21-10 in a duel that lasted for over an hour.
In the final of the men’s singles, Shu Yu Qi from China landed his second French Open crown after beating Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in straight set.
The 2016 winner Yu Qi, who turned 28-years-old last month, put up with several long rallies before he was able to shut down Kunlavut 22-20, 21-19 in 62 minutes.
On the other hand, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lived up to their top billings when they captured their second French Open men’s doubles crown.
The duo were winners in 2022.
It took the current world No. 1 pair just over 35 minutes to dispose of Lee Jhe-Hue-Yang Po-Hsuan from Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-17.
It was a long battle in the final of the women’s doubles when it took Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan from China close to one and a half hours before they were able to set aside Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
Qing Chen-Yi Fan showed that they are deserving of being the tournament’s top seed and the current world No. 1 when they took the first set 21-12 before Matsuyama-Shida then fought back to take the second set 21-19.
But Qing Chen-Yi Fan were not about to let their second French Open title slip from their grasp when they kept their composure intact to take the decisive rubber set climactic 24-22.
However, there was an upset in the final of the mixed doubles when fourth-seeded Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping from China edged Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung – third third-seeded pair from South Korea – for their first-ever crown.
Yan Zhe-Dong Ping, who were runners up at last year’s BWF World Tour Finals – showed their determination to break into the top three in the world with a 21-16, 21-16 victory in 43 minutes.