World No 1 Zhang Yining lifted the women's singles crown at the World Table Tennis Championships on Thursday, taking her place among the all-time greats as China racked up another two gold medals. The Olympic and Asian champion's tunnel-vision drive for world championship glory was never in doubt, and she diligently put paid to compatriot Guo Yan's dream in front of a worshipping crowd at the Shanghai Sports Gymnasium. China, which had already bagged the mixed doubles title, made it three out of three with Kong Linghui and Wang Hao demolishing Germany's Timo Boll and Christian Suss in the men's doubles final.
China is in the hunt for a clean sweep of all five golds here and has two paddlers left in the last four of the men's singles while three Chinese pairs are in the semi-finals of the women's doubles.
Both those matches are played on Friday.
While the robotic Zhang has been in dominant form in Shanghai, she wobbled against Guo, who took two sets off her friend and saved three match points before succumbing 4/11, 11/7, 11/7, 4/11, 11/8, 13/11.
The pencil-thin Zhang paved the way for victory by beating Lin Ling of Hong Kong in the semi-finals earlier on Thursday, while Guo saw off emerging star Guo Yue, also of China.
Zhang only dropped three sets in the tournament and proved she is in a class of her own, pushing herself to the limit in her quest to take the title Wang Nan denied her in Paris two years ago. That narrow defeat was devastating for Zhang but it ultimately paid dividends, forcing her to try even harder.
The effort has paid off with the intervening years seeing her take the Olympic, World Cup and now world championships titles, putting her among an elite few to achieve the treble, including Wang Nan and Deng Yaping.
"In the past years, I have experienced all kinds of difficulties. I finished with silver medals so many times. But defeats are not useless and they have become my assets," she said.
While China has two competitors left in the men's singles to take that gold, chinks in their armour have been exposed, with the likes of Wang Hao and Hao Shuai caving in under pressure to lesser opponents.
The top-ranked Wang Liqin is another notorious for choking in crunch matches but continued his march towards the men's singles crown with a hard-fought 4-2 win over teammate Chen Qi in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
"I've shown the best part of my game, especially in the second set when I had to fight back from 8-10 down," said Wang, the 2001 champion.
"It's harder to win over teammates than foreign players. The most important thing is to keep a positive attitude, believing that you can make it." The surprise of the day came from little known Dane Michael Maze who followed up his fourth round thrashing of world No 3 Wang Hao by coming from behind to edge out China's Hao Shuai.
Maze was 3-0 down and on the verge of defeat before rallying to win 4-3 and keep the European flag flying. He will play China's Ma Lin, the second seed, who beat compatriot Liu Guozheng.
"I always believe that I can beat anyone here at the tournament, and I've shown that I'm able to beat the best Chinese," said the 23-year-old Dane.
Oh Sang Eun of South Korea, the sixteenth seed, is also through after beating Peter Karlsson of Sweden.
RESULTS (x denotes seed):
WOMEN'S (Final}: Zhang Yining (CHN x1) bt Guo Yan (CHN x8) 4/11, 11/7, 11/7, 4/11, 11/8, 13/11.
WOMEN'S (Semi-finals): Zhang Yining (CHN x1) bt Lin Ling (HKG x16) 10/12, 11/4, 11/5, 11/3, 11/7; Guo Yan (CHN x8) bt Guo Yue (CHN x5) 10/12, 11/3, 11/6, 11/7, 11/9.
MEN'S (Quarter-finals): Wang Liqin (CHN x1) bt Chen Qi (CHN x7) 8/11, 12/10, 11/4, 8/11, 11/9, 11/3; Oh Sang-eun (KOR x24) bt Peter Karlsson (SWE x22) 11/7, 11/13, 11/7, 11/7, 7/11, 11/9; Michael Maze (DEN x19) bt Hao Shuai (CHN x27) 5/11, 8/11, 6/11, 12/10,11/7, 11/9, 11/6; Ma Lin (CHN x2) bt Liu Guozheng (CHN x18) 12/10, 5/11, 11/13, 11/8, 11/6, 11/9.
MEN'S Doubles (final): Kong Linghui/Wang Hao (CHN x3) bt Christian Suss/Timo Boll (GER x9) 11/9, 11/3, 11/9, 7/11, 11/6.
MEN'S (4th round): Wang Liqin (CHN x1) bt Li Ching (HKG) 11/6, 11/4, 9/11, 10/12, 11/3, 6/11, 11/5; Chen Qi (CHN x7) bt Kong Linghui (CHN x12) 11/8, 11/6, 11/8, 11/6; Peter Karlsson (SWE x22) bt Zhiwen He (ESP) 11/7, 8/11, 11/5, 6/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/9; Oh Sang-eun (KOR x24) bt Vladimir Samsonov (BLR x4) 11/9, 11/9, 4/11, 11/7, 9/11, 7/11, 11/8.
WOMEN'S (4th round): Zhang Yining (CHN x1) bt Kim Hyang-mi (PRK x22) 11/4, 11/4, 11/7, 11/5; Veronika Pavlovich (BLR) bt Tie Yana (HKG x7) 11/9, 11/4, 11/4, 11/5; Jun Gao (USA x17) bt Cao Zhen (CHN x12) 5/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/4, 9/11, 3/11, 11/8; Lin Ling (HKG x16) bt Tamara Boros (CRO x4) 12/10, 11/7, 5/11, 11/7, 8/11, 11/3; Niu Jianfeng (CHN x3) bt Krisztina Toth (HUN x20) 11/13, 11/8, 11/8, 11/3, 11/6; Guo Yue (CHN x5) bt Fan Ying (CHN x23) 11/8, 11/6, 11/5, 11/7; Guo Yan (CHN x8) bt Song Ah Sim (HKG x18) 11/6, 11/4, 16/14, 11/8; Jiao Li (NED x19) bt Moon Hyun-jung (KOR) 11/7, 11/9, 7/11, 12/10, 9/11, 9/11, 12/10.
MEN'S Doubles (Semi-finals): Christian Suss/Timo Boll (GER x9) bt Ma Lin/Chen Qi (CHN x1) 13/11, 3/11, 11/6, 15/13, 11/7; Kong Linghui/Wang Hao (CHN x3) bt Wang Liqin/Yan Sen (CHN x2) 13/11, 11/8, 2/11, 7/11, 11/7, 11/7.
MIXED Doubles (Quarter-finals): Qiu Yike/Cao Zhen (CHN x10) bt Wang Hao/Wang Nan (CHN x1) 11/5, 2/11, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8, 7/11, 11/6; Liu Guozheng/Bai Yang (CHN x4) bt Hao Shuai/Niu Jianfeng (CHN x5) 11/8, 11/8, 11/8, 11/9; Yan Sen/Guo Yan (CHN x12) bt Seiya Kishikawa/Ai Fujinuma (JPN x30) 11/4, 11/5, 11/13, 16/14, 11/7; Wang Liqin/Guo Yue (CHN x2) bt Werner Schlager/Jia Liu (AUT x8) 11/7, 11/4, 11/3, 11/6.
MIXED Doubles (Semi-finals): Liu Guozheng/Bai Yang (CHN x4) bt Qiu Yike/Cao Zhen (CHN x10) 11/7, 11/5, 5/11, 12/10, 11/4; Wang Liqin/Guo Yue (CHN x2) bt Yan Sen/Guo Yan (CHN x12) 11/8, 10/12, 11/5, 11/5, 11/9.
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