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An Se-young’s 21-11, 21-3 saunter against Han Yue at China Masters points to perfection with cautionary pauses

While the Korean has spoken about why Chinese opponents are challenging before, the concern

FILE IMAGE: South Korean shuttler An Se-young in action. (Photo: BAI)

While Chinese Chen Yufei denied womens singles World No 1 An Se-young a world title at Paris, the Korean has achieved her goal of striking consistency against the Chinese especially.

On Sunday at China Masters, she was ruthless against World No 3 Han Yue in a 21-11, 21-3 win. No matter what Yue’s troubles that led to the eye-popping score, Se-young has been nothing but dominant this last week at Shenzhen. Look at the number of points she’s conceded: Round 1 Nidaira – 26, Blichfeldt – 35, Sindhu – 27, Yamaguchi – 24, Han Yue- 14. All in straight sets. She seemed in a frightening mood to put behind her World’s exit to China’s most famous fox – Chen Yufei, who takes down favourites at the big stage, though doesn’t have a world title to go with her Olympics.

But Se-young has beaten Wang Zhi Yi 13 times in their 17 matches till the World’s and went up 9-2 over Han. She trails Yufei 13-14 though.

“I have struggled against Chinese players at times in the past but I’ve always managed to find my rhythm,” Se-young had told Yonhap Agency before Paris. “It’s never easy going up against Chinese players because they are all great. But I think I can bring home the results I want if I just focus on my own game and not think too much about my opponents.”

She used Japan Open to execute plans thereafter, but had said, “But I think I have long ways to go. I have to be more consistent.”

While the most dominant player of the era, especially when rest of women’s singles is in shambles with Yamaguchi taking the world title and Miyazaki and Tunjung not quite stepping up, Se-young is frankly switching game styles, on the go, and preparing to become even more fearsome.

Head coach Park Joo-bong told the Korean media before Paris that Se-young’s offensive-minded approach was still a work in progress. “I am a little worried that she will put too much pressure on herself because she is a perfectionist,” Park said. “She has to realize she will lose at some point. So at the world championships, she will really have a battle against herself,” he had noted.

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Quite prophetic given how things went down against Yufei, but all of the roiling rage came rumbling against Han Yue. The 21-3 scoreline was no surprise.