Chen Yufei


Chen Yufei is a Chinese badminton player. She won the girls' singles junior titles at the 2016 Asian and the World Junior Championships. At the same year, Chen clinched her first senior title at the 2016 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold. She was awarded as the 2017 Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year. She reaches a career high as world number 1 in BWF World ranking in 17 December 2019.

Career

2014–2016

Chen Yufei started playing in international level from the year 2013, being aged only 15. In 2014, she won the silver medal in Asian Junior Championships after beaten by Akane Yamaguchi in the final. She finished runner-up in the German Junior International event after being beaten by Qin Jinjing in the final. In 2015, she reached the finals of China International but lost to Nozomi Okuhara. Her first Grand Prix Gold final was at the 2015 Indonesian Masters, in which she reached the final after astounding several seeded players, but lost to her teammate He Bingjiao. In 2016, she won the major junior titles, the Asian Junior Championships after beating Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in summit clash, and the BWF World Junior Championships by beating Pornpawee Chochuwong in final. She also won the 2016 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold in the year end by defeating Chen Xiaoxin.

2017

She reached the final of 2017 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and have to settle for second best after losing to the same opponent whom she defeated in Macau Open final in 2016, Chen Xiaoxin. In the 2017 BWF World Championships, 19 year old Chen participated as the 9th seed in the tournament. After defeating Pai Yu-po, the lower ranked Chinese Taipei's player in 1st round, she set her meeting with the top seeded Akane Yamaguchi. She bulldozed her way through with the 21–18, 21–19 victory and stunned the world. This was not over yet, she defeated another higher seeded player, Ratchanok Intanon in quarter-final who was the former world champion in 3 games & assured herself of first ever medal in this elite event. However in the semifinal, she lost to P. V. Sindhu & had to satisfy herself with the bronze medal. With her strong performances, she got a ticket to contest in the year ending 2017 BWF Super Series Masters Finals. In the group stage, she lost to Tai Tzu-ying but won against Sung Ji-hyun & Ratchanok Intanon which meant she confirmed her place in the semifinal. But again, in semifinals, she lost to P. V. Sindhu in 2 straight games.

2018

She contested the 2018 German Open final but lost to Akane Yamaguchi. She won the silver medal at the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships losing to Tai Tzu-ying in 2 games. She fell to her 9th consecutive defeat against Tai Tzu-ying in the final of Indonesia Open, in which she took the opening game but that wasn't sufficient to beat Tai and lost the next two. In the World Championships, she failed to cross the quarter-final after being downed by Akane Yamaguchi, a player Chen defeated last year in straight games. Akane Yamaguchi again proved difficult for Chen to crack, this time at the Asian games where she lost to her in quarters. In her second Super - 1000 final at the China Open, which is the highest level of World tour events in badminton, she lost to the reigning world champion, Carolina Marín in straight games. At the 2018 Fuzhou China Open, a Super 750 event, she finally broke her jinx of losing in the finals after defeating Nozomi Okuhara tamely with 21–10, 21–16, and thus won her first ever World tour title. She again qualified for taking part in the season ending championships, this time renamed as the "World Tour Finals" which was held in her home country China. In the 1st match of group stage against Ratchanok Intanon, she injured herself in the deciding game and lost the match. She wasn't recovered from that yet but she played the 2nd match against Canadian Michelle Li & again lost. In the final group match, she twisted her ankle in the very early stage of 1st game which forced her to retire and her overall campaign ended.

2019

2019 proved best ever year in Chen Yufei's career as she earned multiple titles and honour of becoming most dominant player of 2019 in her category. Starting with 2019 All England Open, she defeated Tai Tzu-ying in final, a player she struggled to beat in her last 11 encounters. Chen finally broke that jinx and won her first super 1000 title.
After that, she won Swiss Open title following her win against Saena Kawakami in the final clash. She competed in 2019 Badminton Asia Championships as a top seed after defending champion Tai withdrew from the tournament. She made her way to the semifinal and was discomfited by Akane Yamaguchi, thus claimed the bronze medal. In the 2019 Sudirman Cup, she helped her team in winning the record 11th title, in which she scored a point by defeating Akane Yamaguchi & Japan was crushed in the final with 3–0 tally by China. Her best form wasn't dipped yet, as she claimed the next title in Australian open by totally outplaying Nozomi Okuhara in the final with very one-sided scoreline 21–15, 21–3. She claimed Thailand open title victory by winning against Ratchanok Intanon.
With all her success in 1st half of the year, she was considered as China's best contender for gold in 2019 BWF World Championships in her category. She started well, winning against Pornpawee Chochuwong in round 1, Michelle Li in 2nd round in 3 games. In the quarter-final, she was tested severely by Danish Mia Blichfeldt who once appeared to create an upset by leading 15–12 against her in the decider, but Chen's persistence lead her way to the victory and assured her of second medal in this Grade 1 event. In the semifinal her opponent was P. V. Sindhu who had outplayed her in the 2017 World Championships. Chen again proved low against Sindhu in World Championships and was defeated with a big margin 7–21, 14–21. Thus, she again settled for a bronze medal. Leaving her disappointments, she returned back very strong and again won series of titles. She won 2019 Fuzhou China Open again, by beating same opponent from the last year, Nozomi Okuhara but this time with tougher opposition. After beating Ratchanok Intanon in the final, she won her 6th World tour title by winning the Hong Kong open. Going into the 2019 BWF World Tour Finals as the best title winning contender, In the group stage, she downed all her opponents P. V. Sindhu, Akane Yamaguchi & He Bingjiao & reached the semifinal. She was drawn with Yamaguchi yet again and she displayed a very dominant performance to reach the final. In the final, she showed a great fighting spirit to beat Tai Tzu-ying after being a game down & won the title 12–21, 21–12, 21–17. With her emphatic 7 titles in the year, she became another player from China to become World no. 1 player, the last time China had World's top player in Women's singles was in 2015.

2020

Reaching the final yet again, this time at the 2020 Malaysia Masters, she maintained her unbeaten record at the finals since 2018 fuzhou china open, and outgunned Tai Tzu-ying for the title in 2 games only. She reached 2nd consecutive 2020 All England Open final and faced opposition from the same rival of last year, Tai Tzu-ying. This time she suffered defeat, and was dethroned from the World no. 1 position.

Achievements

BWF World Championships

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2019St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland P. V. Sindhu7–21, 14–21 Bronze
2017Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland P. V. Sindhu13–21, 10–21 Bronze

Asian Championships

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2019Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China Akane Yamaguchi21–15, 16–21, 17–21 Bronze
2018Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China Tai Tzu-ying19–21, 20–22 Silver

BWF World Junior Championships

Girls' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2016Bilbao Arena, Bilbao, Spain Pornpawee Chochuwong21–14, 21–17 Gold

Asian Youth Games

Mixed doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2013Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, China Shi Yuqi Lai Yu-hua
Lee Chia-hsin		21–16, 21–13 Bronze

Asian Junior Championships

Girls' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2016CPB Badminton Training Center, Bangkok, Thailand Gregoria Mariska Tunjung25–23, 21–14 Gold
2014Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Chinese Taipei Akane Yamaguchi10–21, 15–21 Silver

BWF World Tour (9 titles, 4 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Women's singles
YearTournamentLevelOpponentScoreResult
2020All England OpenSuper 1000 Tai Tzu-ying19–21, 15–21 Runner-up
2020Malaysia MastersSuper 500 Tai Tzu-ying21–17, 21–10 Winner
2019BWF World Tour FinalsWorld Tour Finals Tai Tzu-ying12–21, 21–12, 21–17 Winner
2019Hong Kong OpenSuper 500 Ratchanok Intanon21–18, 13–21, 21–13 Winner
2019Fuzhou China OpenSuper 750 Nozomi Okuhara9–21, 21–12, 21–18 Winner
2019Thailand OpenSuper 500 Ratchanok Intanon22–20, 21–18 Winner
2019Australian OpenSuper 300 Nozomi Okuhara21–15, 21–3 Winner
2019Swiss OpenSuper 300 Saena Kawakami21–9, 21–16 Winner
2019All England OpenSuper 1000 Tai Tzu-ying21–17, 21–17 Winner
2018Fuzhou China OpenSuper 750 Nozomi Okuhara21–10, 21–16 Winner
2018China OpenSuper 1000 Carolina Marín18–21, 13–21 Runner-up
2018Indonesia OpenSuper 1000 Tai Tzu-ying23–21, 15–21, 9–21 Runner-up
2018German OpenSuper 300 Akane Yamaguchi19–21, 21–6, 12–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix (1 title, 2 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation since 2007.
Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2017Swiss Open Chen Xiaoxin19–21, 14–21 Runner-up
2016Macau Open Chen Xiaoxin21–13, 21–18 Winner
2015Indonesian Masters He Bingjiao18–21, 9–21 Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 runner-up)

Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2015China International Nozomi Okuhara19–21, 16–21 Runner-up

Performance timeline

National team

Team events2013201420152016
Asian Junior Championships Gold Gold Gold Gold
World Junior Championships Bronze Gold Gold Gold

Events201720182019
Asian ChampionshipsQF Silver Bronze
Asian Gamesstyle="color:#ccc; width: 60px" QFstyle="color:#ccc; width: 60px"
World Championships BronzeQF Bronze

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 15 March 2020.