World No. 1 An Se-young beat 17-year-old Indian prospect Tanvi Sharma 2-0 in the Denmark Open women's singles quarterfinal. Going for back-to-back titles, she now stands at 59 wins and 1 loss this season.
Korea's Money Today reported in a breaking item on the 17th that An took the first game 21-15 against the Indian teenage prospect Tanvi Sharma, in the quarterfinal of the BWF World Tour Super 750 event in Odense, Denmark. Sharma, ranked 24th in the world, won a Taiwan Open (Super 300) title this year. The report described An as prevailing after a tight contest.
광고 문의 · 300×250In the second game An is reported to have strung together nine straight points to take full control. However, the reports we reviewed do not give the second game's final score, so we do not print one. What is confirmed is that the match finished 2-0 and An advanced to the semifinals.
The season in numbers
The win lifts An to 59 wins and 1 loss from 60 matches this season, a win rate of 98.33%. Outlets covering the round of 16 had put her record at 58 wins in 59 matches (98.3%) at that point, and the quarterfinal adds one more. Her only defeat of the season was reported to be to China's Wang Zhiyi in the All England final in March.
An has not dropped a game in Odense. She beat Ukraine's Polina Buhrova 21-13, 21-11 in the round of 32 and Denmark's Line Christophersen, ranked 12th, 21-17, 21-9 in the round of 16. Korea's Etoday reported that she trailed 8-11 and 11-14 in the first game of that match before turning it around, then held her opponent to nine points in the second. Etoday also noted that An won her first Denmark Open title last year by beating Wang Zhiyi 21-5, 24-22 in the final.
What could still change
An is now two steps from a second straight title. The reports we reviewed do not yet specify her semifinal opponent or the match time. In a Super 750 event, stamina management becomes the main variable as the winning run lengthens, though An has finished all three matches here in straight games and has conserved energy.
Taiwan's United Daily News (udn) reported that on the same day Taiwan's top men's singles player Chou Tien-chen lost his quarterfinal 16-21, 12-21 to France's 21-year-old world champion Alex Lanier, ending his run one step short of the semifinals. He fell behind 0-12 early in the second game and clawed back late but could not close the gap. Chou also went out in the quarterfinals of the Arctic Open the week before, so he has stopped at the last eight two weeks running.
Figures in this article draw on reports by Money Today, Etoday and udn. The second game's final score and the semifinal draw were not confirmed and will be added once they are.