Chen Yufei

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.[7] She finished runner-up in the German Junior International event after being beaten by Qin Jinjing in the final.[8] In 2015, she reached the finals of China International but lost to Nozomi Okuhara.[9] Her first Grand Prix Gold final was at the 2015 Indonesian Masters, in which she reached the final after astounding several seeded players,[10] but lost to her teammate He Bingjiao.[11] In 2016, she won the major junior titles, the Asian Junior Championships after beating Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in summit clash,[12] and the BWF World Junior Championships by beating Pornpawee Chochuwong in final.[13] She also won the 2016 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold in the year end by defeating Chen Xiaoxin.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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 (1–2) but won against Sung Ji-hyun (2–0) & Ratchanok Intanon (2–1) which meant she confirmed her place in the semifinal. But again, in semifinals, she lost to P. V. Sindhu in 2 straight games.[18]

She contested the 2018 German Open final but lost to Akane Yamaguchi.[19] She won the silver medal at the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships losing to Tai Tzu-ying in 2 games.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22] Akane Yamaguchi again proved difficult for Chen to crack, this time at the Asian games where she lost to her in quarters.[23] 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.[24] 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.[25] 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.[26]

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.[27] After that, she won Swiss Open title following her win against Saena Kawakami in the final clash.[28] 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 (1–2), thus claimed the bronze medal.[29] 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.[30] 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.[31] She claimed Thailand open title victory by winning against Ratchanok Intanon.[32]

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.[33] Leaving her disappointments, she returned 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.[34] After beating Ratchanok Intanon in the final, she won her 6th World tour title by winning the Hong Kong open.[35] 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 (2–1), Akane Yamaguchi (2–0) & He Bingjiao (2–0) & reached the semifinal. She was drawn with Yamaguchi yet again and she displayed a very dominant performance to reach the final.[36] 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 (Li Xuerui).[37]

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.[38] 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.[39]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2017	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	P. V. Sindhu	13–21, 10–21	Bronze
2019	St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland	P. V. Sindhu	7–21, 14–21	Bronze

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Tai Tzu-ying	19–21, 20–22	Silver
2019	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Akane Yamaguchi	21–15, 16–21, 17–21	Bronze

Girls' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2016	Bilbao Arena, Bilbao, Spain	Pornpawee Chochuwong	21–14, 21–17	Gold

Mixed doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Nanjing Sport Institute, Nanjing, China	Shi Yuqi	Lai Yu-hua Lee Chia-hsin	21–16, 21–13	Bronze

Girls' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Chinese Taipei	Akane Yamaguchi	10–21, 15–21	Silver
2016	CPB Badminton Training Center, Bangkok, Thailand	Gregoria Mariska Tunjung	25–23, 21–14	Gold

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[40] is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[41]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	German Open	Super 300	Akane Yamaguchi	19–21, 21–6, 12–21	Runner-up
2018	Indonesia Open	Super 1000	Tai Tzu-ying	23–21, 15–21, 9–21	Runner-up
2018	China Open	Super 1000	Carolina Marín	18–21, 13–21	Runner-up
2018	Fuzhou China Open	Super 750	Nozomi Okuhara	21–10, 21–16	Winner
2019	All England Open	Super 1000	Tai Tzu-ying	21–17, 21–17	Winner
2019	Swiss Open	Super 300	Saena Kawakami	21–9, 21–16	Winner
2019	Australian Open	Super 300	Nozomi Okuhara	21–15, 21–3	Winner
2019	Thailand Open	Super 500	Ratchanok Intanon	22–20, 21–18	Winner
2019	Fuzhou China Open	Super 750	Nozomi Okuhara	9–21, 21–12, 21–18	Winner
2019	Hong Kong Open	Super 500	Ratchanok Intanon	21–18, 13–21, 21–13	Winner
2019	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Tai Tzu-ying	12–21, 21–12, 21–17	Winner
2020	Malaysia Masters	Super 500	Tai Tzu-ying	21–17, 21–10	Winner
2020	All England Open	Super 1000	Tai Tzu-ying	19–21, 15–21	Runner-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 (BWF) since 2007.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	Indonesian Masters	He Bingjiao	18–21, 9–21	Runner-up
2016	Macau Open	Chen Xiaoxin	21–13, 21–18	Winner
2017	Swiss Open	Chen Xiaoxin	19–21, 14–21	Runner-up

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	China International	Nozomi Okuhara	19–21, 16–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

• Junior level

Team events	2013	2014	2015	2016
Asian Junior Championships	Gold	Gold	Gold	Gold
World Junior Championships	Bronze	Gold	Gold	Gold

• Senior level

Team events	2016	2017	2018	2019
Asia Team Championships	Gold	N/A	Silver	N/A
Asia Mixed Team Championships	N/A	Bronze	N/A	A
Asian Games	N/A		Silver	N/A
Uber Cup	A	N/A	Bronze	N/A
Sudirman Cup	N/A	Silver	N/A	Gold

• Junior level

Events	2013	2014	2015	2016
Asian Junior Championships	R3	Silver	R3	Gold
Asian Youth Games	QF (GS) Bronze (XD)	N/A
World Junior Championships	R4	R3	QF	Gold

• Senior level

Events	2017	2018	2019
Asian Championships	QF	Silver	Bronze
Asian Games	N/A	QF	N/A
World Championships	Bronze	QF	Bronze

Tournament	2018	2019	2020	Best
BWF World Tour
Malaysia Masters	QF	A	W	W (2020)
Indonesia Masters	R1	SF	R1	F (2015)
German Open	F	A	N/A	F (2018)
All England Open	SF	W	F	W (2019)
Swiss Open	A	W	N/A	W (2019)
Australian Open	A	W	N/A	W (2019)
Korea Open	A	QF	N/A	QF (2016, 2019)
China Open	F	SF	N/A	F (2018)
Japan Open	SF	SF	N/A	SF (2017, 2018, 2019)
Denmark Open	QF	SF	Q	SF (2017, 2019)
	N/A		Q
French Open	SF	w/d	N/A	SF (2018)
Fuzhou China Open	W	W	N/A	W (2018, 2019)
Hong Kong Open	R1	W	N/A	W (2019)
Indonesia Open	F	SF	N/A	F (2018)
Malaysia Open	R1	SF	N/A	SF (2019)
Thailand Open	A	W	N/A	W (2019)
BWF World Tour Finals	ret	W		W (2019)
Year-end ranking	4	1		1
Tournament	2018	2019	2020	Best

BWF Super Series
Tournament	2016	2017	Best
All England Open	A	R2	R2 (2017)
Malaysia Open	A	QF	QF (2017)
Singapore Open	A	R2	R2 (2017)
Indonesia Open	A	R1	R1 (2017)
Australian Open	A	QF	QF (2017)
Japan Open	R2	SF	SF (2017)
Korea Open	QF	A	QF (2016)
Denmark Open	A	SF	SF (2017)
French Open	A	QF	QF (2017)
China Open	R2	R1	R2 (2016)
Hong Kong Open	A	QF	QF (2017)
BWF Super Series Finals	NQ	SF	SF (2017)
Year-end ranking	18	8	8

BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix
Tournament	2014	2015	2016	2017	Best
Malaysia Masters	A		R2	A	R2 (2016)
Indonesia Masters	A	F	R2	N/A	F (2015)
Chinese Taipei Open	A		QF	A	QF (2016)
China Masters	A	SF	SF	QF	SF (2015, 2016)
Macau Open	R1	QF	W	A	W (2016)
New Zealand Open	A	R2	QF	A	QF (2016)
Swiss Open	A			F	F (2017)
Thailand Open	N/A	R2	A		R2 (2015)
Thailand Masters	A			SF	SF (2017)
Year-end ranking	491	50	18	8	8