Paris: Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu finished runner-up at the French Open 2026 after losing to world No. 1 An Se Young of South Korea in the women’s singles final.
Sindhu lost 21-16, 11-21, 12-21 at the Arena Grand Paris, as the top-seeded Korean secured her fourth French Open title.
Sindhu began strongly, displaying intensity and sharp court control from the opening shuttle. Capitalising on early errors by the world champion, the Indian ace levelled the score at 11-all before moving ahead to win the opening game 21-16. It was only the second time in their 11 career meetings that Sindhu had taken a game off An.
An responded with her trademark consistency in the second game. After a closely contested opening phase, the top seed won a long run of points to take the game 21-11 and force a decider. In the third game, after the scores were level at 9-9, An used her court coverage and defence to pull away and seal the match in 61 minutes.
Speaking after the match, Sindhu said competing against top players required giving 100% on every point and fighting throughout.
“When you’re playing with the top athletes, you have to be at your 100% every single point. I know it’s not going to be easy and you have to fight for every point. That’s what we were doing,” Sindhu said, as per BAI.
The final was Sindhu’s second BWF World Tour Super 750 final of the 2026 season, following her title victory at the Japan Open in July.
Her run to the final also marked the 10th time an Indian entry had reached the championship round of a BWF World Tour event, Super 300 and above, outside India this season. This surpassed the previous record of nine finals set in 2023, making 2026 the most successful year for Indian representation on the international circuit.
Reflecting on her form, Sindhu said she was satisfied but saw room for improvement.
“I’m absolutely looking forward to much better badminton from me. I’m happy with this, but I think there’s a lot of space, a lot of room still there. So I’m looking forward to it,” she added.
