An Se Young beats PV Sindhu in French Open final, Sindhu's 11th straight loss

South Korea's An Se Young beat India's PV Sindhu 16-21, 21-11, 21-12 in the women's singles final of the French Open badminton tournament in Paris on Sunday, October 25, 2026. Sindhu won the first game, but An took control from the second game onwards and closed out the match in just over an hour. It was Sindhu's 11th consecutive defeat against An, and reports said the title extended An's own winning run to 50 matches.

For Indian badminton, this was a strong week with a familiar ending. Sindhu reached the final of a major event on the BWF World Tour, the professional circuit run by the sport's world body. A title in Paris would have been her second of the season after the Japan Open in July, and her seventh World Tour title overall. Reaching the final alone shows she can still beat top players over a week of matches, as her three-game semi-final win over Hina Akechi showed.

The final also showed the size of the gap at the very top of women's singles. An Se Young has now beaten Sindhu 11 times in a row. Her winning run of 50 matches, as reported after the final, is the kind of streak that makes every opponent's plan start with how to survive her pressure in long rallies. Sindhu's first game was evidence that the plan can work for a while: she won it 21-16. But An raised her level in the second game, winning it 21-11, and her six-point run in the third broke the match open.

For Indian fans, the head-to-head record is the number to watch. Each loss adds to the pressure of the next meeting, and with An at the top of the women's game, Sindhu will likely have to beat her at some point to win the biggest titles. The positive reading for India is that Sindhu took a game off a player on a 49-match unbeaten run and pushed her into a decider. The negative reading is that the second and third games were not close.

The result also matters for how Indian fans read the rest of the season. A final in Paris, after a title in Japan in July, means Sindhu has now gone deep in two of the circuit's bigger events this year. For a player of Sindhu's experience, consistency of this kind is what keeps her in contention for seedings and favourable draws at the remaining tournaments.

Short-term: Sindhu leaves Paris as the runner-up, which brings ranking points and prize money for a final, and a boost in confidence after a run of good wins. An Se Young adds another title and extends her winning streak to 50 matches.

Long-term: Sindhu's results across the rest of the season will show whether this final is the start of a steady run back towards the top of the world rankings. The 11-match losing run against An remains the biggest obstacle between her and the major titles.

Who is affected: PV Sindhu and her coaching team, who must find answers to An's game; Indian badminton fans following her late-career form; younger Indian women's singles players building their own records on the World Tour; and An Se Young's rivals, who now face a player on a 50-match winning run.

Questions and Answers