Nguyen Thuy Linh cruises to first-round victory at Korea Masters badminton tournament

Dong Nai badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh made a strong start with a swift first-round victory at the Korea Masters 2025.

No. 2 seed Nguyen Thuy Linh cruises to an easy win in Round 1 of the 2025 Korea Masters. Photo courtesy of Facebook

On the afternoon of November 5, Vietnam’s No. 1 female badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh faced Han Yu Chen (Chinese Taipei) in the women’s singles first round of the Korea Masters, part of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event, which offers a total prize pool of USD 240,000.

Due to injury and limited international play, Nguyen Thuy Linh has dropped to world No. 24. She was seeded No. 2 in the women’s singles event at the Korea Masters, despite being rated higher than her opponent, Han Yu Chen, a relatively unknown player ranked No. 174 in the world.

Demonstrating her superior class, Thuy Linh dominated the match, playing efficiently and confidently to defeat Han Yu Chen convincingly 2–0 (21–9, 21–15) in just 28 minutes.

With this victory, the Dong Nai team’s standout will move on to face the winner of the match between Hung Yi Ting (Chinese Taipei) and Keisha Fatimah Azzahra (Azerbaijan) in Round 2, scheduled for November 6.

Meanwhile, another Vietnamese player, Nguyen Hai Dang (world No. 55), also advanced to the second round in men’s singles after beating Kuo Kuan Lin (Chinese Taipei, world No. 95) 2–0 (21–13, 21–13). In the next round, Hai Dang will face No. 4 seed Jeon Hyeok Jin (South Korea, world No. 35).

In men’s doubles, Nguyen Dinh Hoang – Tran Dinh Manh fell 1–2 to the Korean pair Noh Jin Seong – Park Seung Min, exiting in the first round.

By Anh Tam – Translated by Trieu Ngan, Minho