An Se Young joins badminton’s elite list with third straight BWF Year-End World No. 1 finish

An Se Young won 11 titles in 2025 season.

After a flawless run at the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 in Hangzhou, world No. 1 An Se Young has placed herself among the greatest names the sport of badminton has ever seen.

She defeated China’s Wang Zhiyi in a 96-minute battle with score of 21–13, 18–21, 21–10 in the final and successfully defended her title.

It marked An Se Young’s 11th title of the 2025 season, setting a new women’s singles record and equalling the all-time single-season singles record held by Japan’s Kento Momota from 2019.

Not only that, by winning the World Tour Finals for the third consecutive time, An Se Young confirmed her status as the Year-End World No. 1 for the third straight season, spanning from 2023 to 2025. In doing so, she joined an elite group of badminton legends like Tai Tzu Ying and Li Xuerui.

Chinese great Li Xuerui achieved the same feat from 2012 to 2014 at the age of 21, 22 and 23, same as An Se Young, while Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying followed with three straight year-end No. 1 finishes from 2016 to 2018 at the age of 22, 23 and 24.

An Se Young finished the year with 11 BWF World Tour titles that includes 73 wins against just four losses, and an unprecedented win rate of 94.80 percent, the highest ever recorded in singles over a season featuring more than 60 matches.

She also became the first badminton player across all disciplines to earn over one million US dollars in prize money in a single season.

Also Read: Christo Popov becomes first French player to win BWF World Tour Finals title

The World No.1 claimed titles across every major tier of the BWF circuit, lifting trophies at the All England Open, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, China Open and Japan Open, while also claiming titles at the Singapore Open, French Open, Korea Open, Swiss Open and German Open before sealing the year with another World Tour Finals crown.

Last year, An Se Young won ten BWF World Tour titles in the 2024 season. This was also a record for most women’s singles titles in a single season before she broke her own record in the 2025 season with 11 titles.

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