2021 BWF World Championships – Women's singles

The women's singles tournament of the 2021 BWF World Championships took place from 12 to 19 December 2021 at the Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín at Huelva.

P. V. Sindhu was the defending champion, but she lost to Tai Tzu-Ying in the quarterfinals. This also guaranteed Tai Tzu-Ying's first medal of world championships.

Seeds
The seeding list is based on the World Rankings of 23 November 2021.


 * 1) Tai Tzu-ying (final)
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Akane Yamaguchi (champion)
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Nozomi Okuhara (withdrew)
 * 4) 🇪🇸 Carolina Marín (withdrew)
 * 5) 🇰🇷 An Se-young (quarter-finals)
 * 6) 🇮🇳 P. V. Sindhu (quarter-finals)
 * 7) 🇹🇭 Ratchanok Intanon (quarter-finals)
 * 8) 🇨🇳 He Bingjiao (semi-finals)

🇹🇭 Pornpawee Chochuwong (third round) 🇨🇦 Michelle Li (third round) 🇹🇭 Busanan Ongbamrungphan (second round) 🇯🇵 Sayaka Takahashi (third round)  Mia Blichfeldt (third round) 🇨🇳 Wang Zhiyi (third round) 🇸🇬 Yeo Jia Min (second round) 🇰🇷 Kim Ga-eun (third round) 