PV Sindhu won the opening game against An Se-young in the French Open final in Paris, then lost the next two 21-11 and 21-12. It was her 11th defeat in 11 meetings with the world No. 1, and it ended her second Super 750 final of 2026 in silver.
Paris, France: Few players take a game off An Se-young. On Sunday at the Arena Grand Paris, Sindhu did exactly that, and for a long stretch she looked capable of more. Then the world No. 1 reminded the field why she has lost only one match all season.
Sindhu takes a game few others can
Sindhu matched An from the opening exchanges, and the first game stayed tight until 11-11. From there she pulled clear, turning sharper net play and attacking returns into a 21-16 win. It was only the second time in their 11 meetings that Sindhu had won a game against An; the first came in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships.
An turns the final with her defence
The second game belonged to An. She led 11-7 at the interval and kept lengthening the rallies, turning Sindhu’s attacks into errors on the way to a 21-11 win that levelled the match.
The decider began as a contest. Sindhu led 8-5, and An then drew level at 8-8. After that, the Korean took control, reeling off six straight points to move 15-9 clear, and she closed out the title 21-12. The whole final lasted just over an hour. An said afterwards that she had focused on her defence and tried not to rush.
The road to the final
Sindhu reached the final through a week of contrasting wins. She edged Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in a three-game thriller in the round of 32, then beat Japan’s Riko Gunji in straight games on the day Ashmita Chaliha stunned Akane Yamaguchi. On Saturday she beat Japan’s Hina Akechi 21-10, 20-22, 21-16 in about 73 minutes to reach the final, taking the last six points of the decider after Akechi had led 16-15.
The final was her second Super 750 showpiece of the year. In July she won the Japan Open, beating Yamaguchi and becoming the first Indian to claim that title. She arrived in Paris ranked 11th in the world.
What the result means
For An, it was a fourth French Open women’s singles title, and it came fresh from her Denmark Open win, giving her two Super 750 titles in as many weeks. She now has a 66-1 record in 2026. For Sindhu, the result brought encouragement as well as disappointment: a game won against the best player in the sport, and a second final reached in the space of three months. India’s other hopes had gone earlier; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were beaten in the first round by the Popov brothers.
Result summary: French Open (BWF Super 750), Arena Grand Paris, women’s singles final, Sunday 25 October 2026.
An Se-young (South Korea) bt PV Sindhu (India) 16-21, 21-11, 21-12, with Sindhu winning the first game 21-16.
