Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie orchestrated his first tournament victory of the season with a 2-1 (21-10, 15-21, 21-17) win over Danish top seed Anders Antonsen at the Korea Open 2025 on Sunday (28 September).
Christie broke a dry spell since his last appearance in a badminton final at the Indonesia Masters in January, where he finished runner-up.
The match was evenly poised with the two shuttlers exchanging points before the first game was interrupted for more than six minutes at 5-5 when Antonsen needed medical attention from an elbow bleed.
Once the game resumed, Christie pulled ahead to lead the Dane 11-7 at the mid-game break and built on his advantage to close out the first game with a flourish.
He strengthened his grip on the contest with a flying start to the second, taking a 4-0 lead before Antonsen found his groove.
The Dane took the lead for the first time at 9-8 and put further daylight on his opponent, building a solid six-point lead (15-9). Antonsen held firm to take the second game and enforce the decider.
The match could have gone either way, with the contest evenly poised in the first half of the game. Christie found his footing, opening a four-point lead (19-14), only for Antonsen to roar back to get within two points.
But the Indonesian held his nerve, scoring back-to-back points to claim his first tournament title of the year.