AN Se Young    (C) Women's Badminton

South Korea's "Shuttlecock Queen" An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) is facing a significantly clearer path to her tenth season victory. The world No. 1 is set to compete in the 2025 BWF World Tour Super 500 Australian Open Women's Singles, running for six days from November 18 to 23 (KST) in Sydney, Australia.

An Se-young will kick off her campaign for the title against Shea Na Lee (New Zealand, World No. 145) in the Round of 32.

Her remarkable run of form continued in the French Open (Super 750) on October 26, where she secured a dominant 2-0 (21-13, 21-7) victory over Wang Zhiyi (China, World No. 2) in the final, lifting her ninth trophy of the season.

The Ninth Title and the Pursuit of History 

An Se-young's nine titles this season include:

Malaysia Open (Super 1000)
India Open (Super 750)
Orléans Masters (Super 300)
All England Open (Super 1000)
Indonesia Open (Super 1000)
Japan Open (Super 750)
China Masters (Super 750)
Denmark Open (Super 750)
French Open (Super 750)

After taking a three-week hiatus following the French Open, An Se-young is now back on the international stage.

Should she triumph at the Australian Open, An Se-young will achieve an unprecedented ten victories in a single BWF season, surpassing the current Women's Singles record of nine titles she herself set in 2023.

Furthermore, if she also conquers the upcoming HSBC BWF World Tour Finals scheduled for next month, she will equal Kento Momota's (Japan) all-time BWF record of eleven single-season titles set in 2019.

Mass Withdrawals Clear the Path 

The prospect of a "walkover" title is significantly enhanced by the mass withdrawal of top-ranked competitors from the Australian Open, a favorable turn of events for the South Korean star.

The Chinese contingent, including Wang Zhiyi (No. 2), Han Yue (No. 4), and Chen Yufei (No. 5), have all withdrawn to participate in the 15th China National Games. Japanese rivals, such as Akane Yamaguchi (No. 3) and Tomoka Miyazaki (No. 9), have also pulled out.

Consequently, the next highest-ranked player in the tournament is Putri Kusuma Wardani (Indonesia, No. 7), who is considered less of a serious threat to the formidable An Se-young.

An Se-young is reportedly determined to dominate both the Australian Open and the subsequent World Tour Finals, cementing her status as the undisputed queen of badminton. Her pursuit of a record-breaking season, now virtually unopposed in Sydney, is one of the most compelling narratives in global sports.