PV Sindhu Takes the First Game but Falls to An Se-young in French Open Final, Her 11th Straight Loss to the Korean

PV Sindhu's run at the French Open ended one match short of the title on Sunday. She lost the women's singles final to South Korea's An Se-young 21-16, 11-21, 12-21 at the Arena Grand Paris. The world No. 1 and top seed needed 61 minutes to come back from a game down and win her fourth French Open crown.

Sindhu reached the final with a three-game semifinal win over Japan's Hina Akechi (see our earlier coverage). She went into Sunday's match having lost all ten of her previous meetings with An. The result makes it eleven.

A Strong Start That Didn't Last

The opening game was the best stretch of badminton Sindhu has played against An in years. She attacked from the first rally, used her reach to push An deep, and made the most of a few early errors from the Korean. The game was level at 11-11 at the interval, and after the break Sindhu pulled away to take it 21-16.

Winning a game off An is rare in itself. In eleven career meetings Sindhu has now done it only twice, so the opening game was a real marker for an Indian who has spent much of the last two seasons rebuilding her form.

How An Took Control

An changed the match in the second game. She is known for her retrieval and defence, and once she cut out the early mistakes she kept the shuttle in play and made Sindhu hit one more shot on almost every rally. A long run of points took her clear, and she closed the game 21-11 to force a decider.

The third game was tight early on, with the two level at 9-9. From there An's court coverage made the difference. She won a string of points to open up a lead of several points and never let Sindhu back in, closing out the game 21-12 and the match.

What the Week Says About Sindhu's Season

The loss stings, but the week was still a good one for Sindhu. This was her second BWF World Tour Super 750 final of 2026, after she won the Japan Open in July. She has now reached the late rounds of top-tier events on a regular basis again, something that looked unlikely during her injury-hit spell.

Speaking after the final, Sindhu said that playing the very best players means being at full intensity on every single point, and that she had fought for every rally. She said she was happy with her level this week but felt there was still a lot of room to improve, and that she expects to play better badminton in the coming tournaments.

Her run also counts towards a wider record for Indian badminton. According to the Badminton Association of India, it was the tenth time this season that an Indian has reached the final of a BWF World Tour event at Super 300 level or above outside India. That beats the previous best of nine finals, set in 2023, and makes 2026 the most successful year yet for Indian players on the international circuit.

The An Se-young Problem

For Sindhu, the head-to-head with An remains the clearest gap in her game. An is younger, steadier in long rallies and harder to finish off than almost anyone on the women's tour. Sindhu's first game on Sunday showed one way to trouble her: early aggression and taking the shuttle early. The challenge is keeping that up for three games against a player who rarely gives away cheap points.

With the season heading into its final stretch of events, Sindhu has form and confidence to build on. Turning a single-game win into a match win against the world No. 1 is the next step.

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