Jakarta: Chinese Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Chen Yufei won the women’s singles final at the 2024 Indonesia Open, a BWF World Tour Super 1000 event on Sunday, narrowly defeating World No. 1 An Se-Young of Korea 21-14, 14-21, 21-18 to defend the Indonesia Open title she won last year.
Highlights of Chen Yufei vs. An Se-Young in the 2024 Indonesia Open final:
Ranked second in the world, Chen Yufei had an impressive run in Indonesia, overcoming Spanish star Carolina Marin in a three-game semifinal. After losing to An in the Singapore Open final last Sunday, she faced An Se-Young again in the Indonesia Open final.
In the Singapore Open last Sunday, An Se-Young defeated Chen Yufei 21-19, 16-21, 21-12. Their recent encounters have often gone to three games, showing their evenly matched skills.
In the Indonesia Open final, Chen Yufei won the first game 21-14. Despite losing the second game 21-14 to An Se-Young, she remained competitive in the deciding game, taking an early 9-3 lead.
An Se-Young called for a medical timeout at 8-13 to re-apply taping on her right knee and after the timeout, she quickly regained her form, capitalizing on several of Chen’s errors to tie the score at 18-18.
Chen Yufei was not fazed by this An’s momentum. Chen utilized her excellent defense to earn her the match point, followed by a sharp cross-court shot that landed on the sideline. Although An challenged the call, it was unsuccessful, and Chen Yufei won 21-18.
In the mixed doubles final, the title went to young pair Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, who defeated World No. 2 Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping in the quarterfinals and swept World No. 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-11, 21-14 in the final. This victory continues China’s dominance in the mixed doubles category.
South Korea’s Lee So-Hee and Baek Ha-Na prevented a clean sweep by the China team in all five categories by claiming the women’s doubles title. Known for their strong defense, top-tier stamina, and powerful offense, they defeated World No. 1 Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan 21-17, 21-13 in the final. Lee and Baek have emerged as the biggest rivals to China’s top women’s doubles pairs, having consecutively defeated China’s best women’s pairs (they overcame World No. 4 Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning 21-11, 21-14 in the semifinals) to rightfully claim the 2024 Indonesia Open.
