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CHANGSHA, China: China dominated the Volkswagen table tennis Tournament of Champions on Sunday, with Ma Long taking the men's singles title and Guo Yan capturing the women's crown on home turf in Changsha.
The 21-year-old Ma, the world number two, powered past world number four Timo Boll of Germany in five games, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6.
Ma, who defeated countryman Ma Lin earlier on Sunday in the semis, never gave the 28-year-old German an opening, shutting him down on the big points.
Boll had reached the final by easily dispatching compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the semis in four straight games.
Ma - the leader in the ITTF Pro Tour standings - will finish his highly successful season in January at the Grand Finals, where he is the titleholder.
On the women's side, Guo beat 18-year-old Liu Shiwen in an all-China final, 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, avenging her loss to the teen at the world championships earlier this year in Japan.
Guo, who beat European champion Wu Jiaduo of Germany in the semi-finals, dominated the first two games, but Liu - a winner over Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus in the semis - bounced back to even the championship match at 2-2.
The 27-year-old Guo was however not to be denied, cruising to victory and only surrendering three points in the final game.
Both draws were made up of the sport's elite eight - the holders of the four major titles (Beijing Olympics, World Championships, World Cup and Pro Tour Grand Finals 2008), the two highest-ranked players and two wild cards.
The winners walked away with 45,000 dollars each. - AFP/de
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