An Se Young marched into her third consecutive final after defeating Wang Zhi Yi 21-9 10-21 21-16 at DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2023.

In doing so, the third-seeded Korean became the only player to reach the title match at all three tournaments of the new HSBC BWF World Tour season.

“I’m happy I’m improving with each match,” said An. “I was tiring in the second game but my coach reminded me to play with confidence, that helped overcome the tiredness.”

The last shuttler across all five disciplines to start the opening three events of a year on a similar form was coincidentally another Korean – doubles legend Lee Yong Dae in 2009. Lee won a title each at the Malaysia, Korea and German Opens.

An ended the 2022 season on a disappointing note after two group stage defeats at the HSBC BWF BWF World Tour Finals in Bangkok ruled her out of the knockout stage. An intensive training programme following that, in preparation for the upcoming campaign, seems to have put the world No.2 back on track.

Winner at YONEX SUNRISE India Open 2023 last Sunday and runner-up at PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2023 a week earlier, An now faces Spaniard Carolina Marin in the championship bout.

While Marin leads the head-to-head 4-3, An has won their last two duels.

“This match is over, I will play the final with a happy heart,” said the 20-year-old, who won the competition in 2021.

WHAT OTHERS SAID:

“We had a good lead in the second game but didn’t capitalise. We need to learn from this and come back stronger.” – Thinaah Muralitharan

“Every time I play Shi Yu Qi, I never get an easy win. So I already prepared for that and I’m happy the reward is my first final at the Istora Senayan.” – Jonatan Christie

“Istora is an amazing hall, where I have good and bad memories. I won the World Championships in 2015 but also broke my knee here. But my form is good now so I want to keep going.” – Marin

“Happy with how we performed in Jakarta. We were disappointed with our showings in Malaysia and India. We feel like we can build on what we did here.” – Takuro Hoki

→ Results (Day 5)

→ Order of play (Day 6)