An Se-young’s celebration – many fist pumps, roaring and crowning herself – showed what this win meant to her, and his much PV Sindhu had troubled her. Though finally the score read a regulation 21-16, 11-21, 12-21, it was probably the closest the Indian came to beating the invincible Korean – a fantastic match at the French Open Super 750.

To answer the obvious question, what gave Se-young her 11th victory over Sindhu was her regal avenging resorting to the body smash – in a 1-2 combination. Playing the decider after sets were level, Se-young adopted the two consecutive smashes – one to Sindhu’s left that forced a backhand torque and slowed her response on the next – a body smash, to race to the win after a blitz third. But the 61 minutes needed to down the Indian, tell a story. Sindhu couldn’t sustain her bright start and the Korean all-conqueror ran with it after picking a clutch of points.

Nobody save Wang Zhi Yi at All England has beaten Se-young in 2026.…