Hosts sweep through table tennis China Open
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Li Xiaoxia saw off defensive specialist Kim Kyung Ah of South Korea 12-10, 12-10, 11-3, 11-6 for the women's singles crown. |
Earlier on Sunday evening, world title winning duo Guo Yue/Li Xiaoxia and random partners Ma Lin/Xu Xin respectively took the women's and men's doubles championships, each pair having won an all-Chinese final.
Guo and Li, who partnered up to be crowned at worlds in 2007 Zagreb before encountering each other at the women's singles final on the same day, easily beat younger teammates Ding Ning/Liu Shiwen 11-3, 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, while Ma/Xu Xin rallied past Chen Qi/Wang Liqin in full sets, winning 14-12, 3-11, 11-4, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7.
The truely impressive eye-catcher of the day, however, came earlier in the afternoon when 31-year-old Shen Yanfei's giant killing run was snapped by South Korean Kim in the semifinals, losing 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5.
Shen, a mom of 10-month-old baby girl, had ousted former world champion Guo Yue in the last 16 and beat Singapore's top player Feng Tianwei in the quarters on Saturday.
The Chinese-born Spaniard, a previous member of the all-time leading Chinese table tennis team before being eliminated from the national squad in late 1990s, settled for the semifinalist and happily puts eyes on next month's Euro2010.
"I'm very satisfied with my results this time," said Shen. "I never thought I could beat those leading paddlers like Guo Yue and Feng Tianwei and even made the semifinals at the star-studded China Open."
She will fly back to Spain before departing for the Spanish table tennis team's massive training camp in Italy.
"It's for sure that I will do anything I can to defend my Euro title. I won it during and after my pregnancy and the last thing I 'll do is to give it up easily when I have brought back my best shape," she added.
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