Alex Lanier celebrated his biggest win on home turf, winning the Orleans Masters Badminton 2025 to get a first HSBC BWF World Tour Super 300 title under his belt.

Having never made it past the quarterfinals in three previous attempts, Lanier came through a tough draw including a first round meeting with 2023 champion Priyanshu Rajawat. In the final on Sunday, the Frenchman fought off a second game comeback by second seed Lin Chun-Yi, 21-13 21-18.

“It has been really nice to play here. The atmosphere was great. Everybody was screaming for me so that was very nice. Honestly, It gave me a bit of energy and the focus that I needed.”

Speaking of his first World Tour win at home, the Frenchman said:

“I won the Nannes International Challenge at home also, but this was higher. The atmosphere was huge, so that gave me a lot of things, a lot of emotions to win here. It’s amazing to share this moment with the fans.

“He’s an attacking player, someone with strong in attack and at net. The goal was to pace out, try to break him with speed, and I also tried to control and play different shots with high quality and today it worked. It wasn’t easy to win against this kind of opponent and I did well today.

“I’m going to the All England pretty confident. I need to recover and be a bit more fresh. But the body is fresh and it’s about being ready mentally to fight again. I will enjoy the moment in the All England.”

Lin paid tribute to his young opponent, who has been in tremendous form over the past few months. “He’s so young and so fast. I could not keep up with his pace in the beginning, but in the second game I tried to play quicker and I was able to play at the same pace. He’s so smart. He’s a good player.”

The women’s singles final was one-sided, with An Se Young winning her third straight title this year beating familiar rival Chen Yu Fei, 21-14 21-15. Chen, who hasn’t played the World Tour since winning their last encounter at the Indonesia Open, was unable to match the world No.1 on the day.

“I’m happy to be back on court. This is my first (World Tour) tournament this year. I thought I would lose in the first round. I can’t believe I played the final, so I’m happy,” said Chen.

“She is playing the same as before. Her defence is very good. I need more patience and speed, but today I didn’t have much speed. Next week maybe I will change my playing style, I will try my best.”

For her part, the victor said she was happy to see her great rival return to court:

“I’m so happy to win again,” said An Se Young. “I’m happy to see Chen Yu Fei come back. I enjoyed seeing her play again. I just trust myself and try to do my best and focus step by step. I will have to forget about this week and treat All England as a new week.”

Other Results

» Korea’s success with their new combinations continued, with Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju annexing the men’s doubles title beating world No.3 Wang Chang/Liang Wei Keng 21-13 18-21 21-18.

» Kim Hye Jeong/Kong Hee Yong, won their second tournament in their third final on the trot, beating compatriots Lee So Hee/Baek Ha Na 21-18 23-21.

» Danish mixed doubles duo Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund clinched their first title of the season beating Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 21-17 21-13.

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