Table tennis: Xu Xin defends men’s singles title

Dubai: Xu Xin defended his men’s singles title when he edged past teammate, friend and world number one Ma Long 4-3 (11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5) in the final of the 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which concluded at Al Nasr Club on Saturday evening.

Xin, who had won in Hangzou in 2012, walked away with the top prize of $104,000 (Dh380,000), thus joining fellow Chinese Liu Shiwen who had denied compatriot Ding Ning the crown the previous night.

“All of us have worked hard to keep strong during 2013, and it is particularly satisfying for me to win the final competition for 2013,” Xin, 23, told media.

Xin, who also won the men’s World Cup in 2013, admitted that the difference between the two finalists was negligible. “We’ve played each other quite a bit. He’s beaten me sometimes and I have beaten him as well, but tonight it feels good to have one over him,” he smiled.

Xin seemed better prepared as he took the opening game 11-8 and then was leading 5-1 in the second when Long woke up to level 5-5 and then eventually take it 12-10. In the third game, Long led 3-1 for the first time but Xin altered his strategy with some solid execution of top–spin and attacking shots to win 11-6. Down 4-7 in the fourth, Long recovered admirably to tie at 7-7 and then win 11-8.

Signs of fatigue

Long started showing signs of fatigue in the fifth game and that was enough for the defending champion to walk away with the game 11-5 only to see Long wrest the initiative with an early 6-1 cushion that he went on to convert into a win and tie 3-3 to send the encounter in the deciding seventh game.

Xin was off the blocks for an early 5-1 lead and then waited for the poster boy of Chinese table tennis to make some unforced errors to become only the second player (ironically after Ma Long, who won in 2008 and 2009 in Macau) to win consecutive men’s singles titles.

Earlier in the evening, Ding Ning combined with Liu Xiaoxia to blank Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching and Huang Yi-Hua 4-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-1, 11-7) to win the women’s doubles crown.

Ning, who was denied an elusive singles title for the third straight time by world number one Liu Shiwen on Friday, took her time to settle in. There was no stopping the Chinese pair after this as they romped home in straight games. This was Xiaoxia’s third doubles title and her second one with Ning as her partner.