South Korea’s An Se-young capped off her remarkable 2025 season in style by successfully defending her World Tour Finals title and becoming the first badminton player to earn more than US$1 million in prize money in a single season.
The world No. 1 overcame China’s Wang Zhiyi 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in a hard-fought final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, collecting US$240,000 (RM978,480) for the victory. She had already accumulated US$763,175 (RM3,113,858) prior to the tournament, pushing her total earnings beyond the million-dollar milestone.
The triumph did not come easily. Playing against the home favourite in front of a loud Chinese crowd, the 23-year-old battled cramps in a gruelling 96-minute encounter. Despite appearing close to retirement late in the deciding game, Se-young showed immense determination to close out the match.
This victory marked her 11th title of the season, equalling the record for most titles won in a single year, previously set by Japan’s Kento Momota in 2019.
South Korea continued their strong showing as Se-young’s women’s doubles teammates, Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, also emerged champions. The pair defeated Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto 21-17, 21-11 in a 69-minute final to claim the title.
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