South Korean badminton star An Se-young opened her All England Open campaign with a dominant 27-minute victory, setting her sights on becoming the first Korean singles player to win back-to-back titles at the prestigious tournament.
An, the world's top-ranked women's singles player representing Samsung Life, defeated Turkey's Neslihan Arin (world No. 34) 2-0 (21-8, 21-6) in the first round at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England, on Monday.
The 23-year-old controlled the match from the opening rally. She scored six consecutive points to start the first game, then rattled off 10 straight points from 9-5 to close it out. The second game followed a similar pattern, with An scoring nine consecutive points from 1-2 before allowing her opponent just five more points.
An will face Taiwan's Lin Hsiang-ti in the round of 16.
Fresh off consecutive victories at the Malaysia Open and India Open in January, An is targeting her third title of the season. She won her first All England title in 2023 by defeating nemesis Chen Yufei of China, then successfully defended her crown in 2025, becoming the first Korean singles player to win the tournament twice.
A victory this week would make her the first Korean singles player—male or female—to claim consecutive All England titles. Previous Korean back-to-back winners have all come in doubles: Park Joo-bong and Kim Moon-soo in men's doubles (1985-1986), Chung Myung-hee and Hwang Hye-young in women's doubles (1986-1987), Park Joo-bong and Chung Myung-hee in mixed doubles (1989-1991), and Chung So-young and Gil Young-ah in women's doubles (1994-1995).
The All England Open, first held in 1899, is badminton's oldest and most prestigious tournament, now in its 116th edition. It is one of four Super 1000 events on the BWF World Tour and offers the highest prize money at $1.45 million.
In men's doubles, world No. 1 pair Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae also advanced to the last 16. They were leading Britain's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 1-0 in games and 18-15 in the second game when their opponents retired due to injury.