The men's singles players are divided into different groups as two players compete at the BWF Tour Finals in their home countries. On the first match day, Li Shifeng was not in good form and lost at home to Danish star Antonsen, while Shi Yuqi faced Danish No. 1 brother and badminton men's singles king Axelsen. The two have faced each other a total of nine times in previous World Championships, with Shi Yuqi losing eight times in a row after winning his first face against Axelsen in 17 years. This time at home, whether he can create a miracle has become the biggest attraction. After the start of the game, Shi Yuqi showed a very good competitive state, and by taking the initiative to pick the backcourt, Axelsen was forced to turn around, thus winning the opportunity for himself to take the initiative to attack. In the end, after two rounds of hard fighting, Shi Yuqi swept and won with a big score of 2-0, and defeated Axelsen again after six years. Shi Yuqi, who was playing at home, looked very excited after the start of the first game, and his state quickly entered a good situation.
With his wide movement in the front and back, he made consecutive mistakes by Axelsen in the opening stage to take a 3-0 lead. Although Axelsen fought back strongly and chased the score to 2-3, Shi Yuqi made another effort to break Axelsen's defensive layout and extend the advantage to 8-3. Although Axelsen gradually limited Shi Yuqi's attack and chased the score to 8-10, Shi Yuqi still ended the first half of the game with a score of 11-8. After the game restarted, Axelsen accelerated the pace and launched an assault, quickly chasing the score to 13 draws. However, Shi Yuqi remained calm, and through patient maneuvering and decisive slashing, he once again took a 19-14 lead. Although Axelsen scored 5 points in a row and chased the score to 19 at the end of the game, Shi Yuqi quickly returned the ball to score after causing Axelsen's mistake at the critical moment, and made a good start 21-19. Axelsen showed a more aggressive style of play in the second game. As soon as he got on the pitch, he aggressively attacked the net and quickly took a 3-0 lead.
However, Shi Yuqi also responded quickly, successfully limiting Axelsen's interception ability by reducing the appearance of small balls in front of the net and adopting more active pushing and backcourt restrictions. In addition, he also forced opponents to spin by pressing the world No. 1 and creating many overhead kills for himself. Shi Yuqi quickly chased the score to 4 draws, and then the two sides bit the score tightly and played to 10 draws, and at the critical moment, Axelsen once again showed his interception ability at the net and entered the middle game 11-10. After returning to the court, it was still difficult for the two sides to distinguish the winner, but after 14 draws, Shi Yuqi took the lead, with patient maneuvering and coherent assault, scoring 5 points in a row, and finally led 19-14. Although the world No. 1 did not give up, Shi Yuqi never gave his opponent a chance to breathe, and finally sealed the victory 21-19. This season, the outstanding performances of Axelsen and An Seying have gradually formed the perception that "singles is the world".
However, on the first day of the World Badminton Finals, both Ahn Se Ying and Axelsen suffered a rough start, which cast doubt on this perception.