China again proved its dominance in table tennis as its paddlers booked all the places in both the women's and men's singles finals at the 2007 Volkswagen Open in Chiba, Japan.

 

Resurgent veteran, Wang Nan reaffirmed that she is still in contention for the Olympics next year. A clean victory over new world champion Guo Yue sent the 29-year-old, who last month claimed the women's doubles title in the World Championships, to the final, where she will play teammate Guo Yan.

 

Guo Yan earned her place by ousting the only non-Chinese mainlander in the semis, Jiang Huajun of Hong Kong, who had earlier nailed world No.1 Zhang Yining in five sets.

 

In the men's singles, Chinese Ma Long beat South Korean Oh Sang Eun in straight sets to set up an all-Chinese final where he will play Wang Liqin or Wang Hao.

 

The game got off to a fast start with some high quality attacks giving Ma Long a 9-6 edge. But Oh hit back quickly and leveled the score at 9-9. Ma showed a cool head, eventually winning the opener 11-9, after which he was never threatened for the rest of the game.

 

(CRIENGLISH.com June 25, 2007))