Wang Chuqin competes in the men's singles final match at WTT Cup in Xinxiang, Central China's Henan Province on October 30, 2022. Photo: VCG

Wang Chuqin of China defeated Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan 4-2 in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Cup Finals men's singles final match to win the title in Xinxiang, Central China's Henan Province on Sunday, media reported.

The two played against each other at the World Team Table Tennis Championships Men's semifinals in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province in early October. Wang lost to Harimoto 3-1. Sunday night's meeting became the revenge match for Wang.

Harimoto entered his good form quicker than Wang and won the first game 11-8, but Wang replied with three straight wins in the following games 11-8, 11-9 and 11-8 respectively. He adapted himself to Harimoto's aggressive style of play, letting him start hitting and then get the better of Harimoto.

The fifth game began with a 3-0 lead by Harimoto, but Wang again dragged the competition back to balance, point by point. The score kept jumping from one draw to another until it reached 8-8. Harimoto then drove a 3-0 run to claim this game and get the match to the sixth game.

This time, Wang took the initiative to attack first, catching his opponent by surprise. Harimoto only began to find his footing after trailing 6-3. He scored two points to cut the deficit down to one, but that was the closest he ever got in this game. Wang kept changing his hitting lines and always maintained at two points of lead. After the score reached 9-7 for Wang, Harimoto made two consecutive mistakes, losing the match and watching Wang lift the championship trophy.

In women's singles final match, Sun Yingsha of China defeated her compatriot Chen Meng 4-3 to claim the title on Sunday, media reported.

Sun Yingsha competes in the women's singles final match at the WTT Cup in Xinxiang on October 30, 2022. Photo: VCG

The top two athletes on the International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF's) world rankings table, Sun (No.1) and Chen (No.2), had a close match at home on Sunday night. Chen gained a head start by winning the first game 11-4, but Sun soon responded to tie the match 1-1 with the same score.

The third game grew much closer as it went all the way to 7-7. Sun then scored three straight key plays to claim the game 11-8. The two continued to be locked together in the fourth game as they tied from 5-5 to 10-10. Sun again seized the opportunity by forehand pulling to score first and then won this game 12-10 on Chen's mistake.

Having allowed Sun to reach match point first, Chen coped with the competition calmly. She first won the fifth game 11-6, then overcame a four-point deficit (8-4) to get game points in the sixth game. Though Sun managed to tie the score 10-10, Chen found a breach with backhand straight hit and won this game to tie the match 3-3.

Sun again established an early lead of 6-2 in the final game. Though Chen was resilient enough to cut her deficit to two points twice (8-6 and 10-8) and even tied it at 10-10, Sun ended the competition with a powerful forehand hit, adding another championship trophy to her honor list.

On Saturday, World No.1 Sun claimed an 11-6, 11-4, 4-11, 14-12, 11-6 victory over her compatriot and world No.4 Wang Yidi, said the Xinhua News Agency. 

Ma Long opened his encounter against Wang in a lackluster fashion, losing three games in a row 11-7, 11-5, 11-5. The 34-year-old Grand Slam winner managed to pull three games back with 11-9, 11-7, 13-11, but failed to turn the table during the decider losing 11-8, suffering another loss to Wang only eight days after the WTT Champions Macao quarterfinals.

Agencies