KOBE, 27 September 2004 — Chen Qi edged past Chuan Chih-yuan of Taiwan to capture his first tour men’s singles title yesterady, completing China’s clean sweep of four titles at the Japan Open Table Tennis Tournament.
Chen, whose previous best finish was runner-up in the Swedish Open last November, missed one match point leading three games and 10-9 in the fourth before fighting back from 0-3 and 2-5 down in the seventh.
The Chinese took a commanding 10-8 lead in the decider and made no mistake in his second attempt to finish off the 2002 Grand Finals winner 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 6-11, 4-11, 11-8.
In the semifinals earlier in the day, Chen, the Athens Olympic doubles champion with Ma Lin, outgunned his teammate and Sydney Olympic gold medalist Kong Linghui 11-8, 11-4, 11-3, 11-9.
Chen earned the top prize of $15,000. It was the first time that China had taken all four titles here since 2000 and a third time overall in the 15-year history of the Japan Open.
In the women’s singles, Athens Olympic champion Zhang Yining underlined her No. 1 world status by beating world No. 4 and defending champion Guo Yue and No. 3 Niu Jianfeng to win her first Japan title.
Zhang, the Asian Games gold medalist, downed Guo 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 in the all-Chinese semifinals and went on to beat the 2003 Asian champion Niu 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to pocket the winner’s check of $10,000.
It was Zhang’s fourth title on the tour this year, adding to her victories at the Korea, Singapore and China Opens.
Earlier, Sydney Olympic and two-time world champions Wang Liqin and Yan Sen won the men’s doubles title that the pair also took in 1997. Wang and Yan, the winners over Athens Olympic champions Chen Qi and Ma Lin in the quarterfinals Saturday, defeated Athens silver medalists Ko Lai Chak and Li Ching of Hong Kong 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 11-9 in the final.
Defending champions Guo Yue and Jiu Jianfeng pulled off an upset victory over Athens Olympic champions Wang Nan and Zhang Yining to take the women’s doubles title for a second year.
Guo and Jiu, who bowed to Wang and Zhang in the semifinals to be satisfied with the bronze medal in Athens, took control late in the second game to score a 7-11, 18-16, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10 win.
