Wang led 10-4. Sunday’s final is Yamaguchi.

Wang Zhiyi led the second game 10-4. Akane Yamaguchi won it 21-19, and Wang’s last shot went out. The first game had gone 21-10 in 14 minutes. The match took 40 minutes, and the one player who has beaten An Se-young this year was out of the final. On the other court An beat Nozomi Okuhara, the 2017 world champion, 21-16, 21-8. Sunday’s final at the SJF Bank Arena in Odense is Yamaguchi.

Wang had the game for a long stretch. Her diagonal smash caught the line, Yamaguchi challenged and lost, and the lead was 4-1. A hairpin from Yamaguchi came back long. Then one of Wang’s own returns hit the tape and crawled over. She signaled an apology, and the lead still ran to 10-4. A rally of 29 shots brought Yamaguchi back to 9-11. She reached 20-19, and Wang hit it out.

An put the opening return into the net and trailed 5-6. Okuhara was quicker at the net, one of An’s shots sailed long, and Okuhara got the game back to 16-14. An took it 21-16. In the second she led 5-1 and closed it 21-8. Thirty-six minutes, and the year is 60-1. The loss on that record is March 8 in Birmingham, and it is Wang’s.

That is why the other semi mattered. In the All England final Wang beat her 21-15, 21-19. An saved three match points, and Wang won on the next one, her first win over An since 2024. An had won their previous ten. Last October, in this same final, An won the opener 21-5 in 16 minutes, and Wang made her play the second out to 24-22. An won the title. She is in Odense to defend it.

Yamaguchi, 29, a three-time world champion and the player ranked third, has lost nine in a row to her. In the world final in New Delhi on Aug. 23, her last lead in the first game was 16-15. At 17-all An took four points in a row, and the game was 21-17. In the second, with An ahead 17-13, a drop shot put Yamaguchi on the floor. Yamaguchi got the next point. An took the three after that, 21-14. On Sept. 5 in Shenzhen, a China Masters semifinal, An won again, 21-13, 21-15, in 43 minutes.

At the Asian Games the crowd was Yamaguchi’s. In the team event An dropped a game and won in three, 21-9, 18-21, 21-11. The individual final was Sept. 29 at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium. An won 21-17, 21-9 in 52 minutes, and at one point in the second game the lead was 12. Afterward Yamaguchi said An was great in every aspect. “Her rally and defense are especially outstanding.” She said the streak out loud, too. “I know it’s not ideal for a player to be on a nine-game losing streak.” She wanted to close the gap and win.

Wang can beat her. On Sept. 22, in the team final, Wang came from a game down and won 14-21, 21-19, 21-17. Six days later Yamaguchi took their individual semifinal 21-11, 22-20, which is how she reached An in Ichinomiya. On Saturday Wang was up 10-4 and lost the game.

Sunday they play again. Yamaguchi left Ichinomiya wanting to close the gap and win, and An has not lost a match since Birmingham. The title An is defending is last year’s, a final Wang took all the way to 24-22.