The Thai world No.2 narrowly won the opening game against defending champion Shi Yuqi 23-21 in 29 minutes, before the top-ranked Chinese retired with a shoulder injury at 1-6 in the second game at Axiata Arena, reports the Bangkok Post.
Kunlavut, who received his gold medal from Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei, pocketed US$ 101,500 (approx B3,200,000), becoming the first Thai men’s singles winner of the event. Shi received $49,300 (B1,554,000). It was Kunlavut’s first Super 1000 final.
Since his first Super 1000 appearance in 2020, the Thai went on to play 17 more, reaching the semi-finals on four occasions.
The victory in the Malaysian capital came right after Kunlavut announced last week that this year he will focus on all four Super 1000 World Tour tournaments in Malaysia, England, Indonesia, and China, aiming for a title.
In winning his eighth World Tour title, Kunlavut has become champion on all four levels (Super 300, 500, 750 and 1000) of the BWF World Tour.
His other World Tour victories are the 2022 German Open (Super 300), the 2023 India Open (Super 750), the 2023 Thailand Open (Super 500), the 2024 Korea Masters (Super 300), the 2025 Indonesia Masters (Super 750), the 2025 Thailand Open (Super 500) and the 2025 Singapore (Super 750).
Earlier, world No.1 An Se-Young of South Korea continued her dominance in the women’s game, beating Wang Zhiyi of China to win her third straight Malaysia Open title. The 23-year-old top seed took 56 minutes to defeat second seed Wang 21-15, 24-22.
An came off a remarkable 2025 season which saw her triumph 11 times to tie Japanese men’s singles player Kento Momota’s 2019 record for the most titles won in a calendar year.
In the women’s doubles decider, top seeds Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China defeated Korean sixth seeds Baek Ha-Na and Lee So-Hee 21-18, 21-12.
Top seeds Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping defeated second seeds Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin 21-19, 21-19 in an all-Chinese clash to be crowned the mixed doubles champions.
In the men’s doubles final, top seeds Kim Won-Ho and Seo Seung-Jae of South Korea overcame second seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia, 21-15, 12-21, 21-18.