Liu dominates to claim third straight Grand Finals title

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  • Positive attitude: Liu Shiwen held her nerve in the decisive sixth game to clinch her third successive title.

    World No1 Liu Shiwen captured her third successive ITTF World Tour Grand Finals title, taking out her compatriot and world No2 Ding Ning 4-2 at Al Nasr Leisureland. 

    Playing for top honours in the Grand Finals for a fourth time, Ding was hoping to capture her first title but Liu once again proved too strong for the former world champion.Liu edged ahead in a tight first game, but a couple of mistakes from Ding gave her the advantage.

    Ding, the only player to win the singles event at the World Junior Championships (2005) and progress to become the world champion at the senior level (2011), retaliated in the second game, relying on a deft serve to level the match at 1-1.

    The match remained close as Ding won the fifth game to trail 2-3, but Liu held her nerve when it mattered most and took the title on a poor serve from Ding in the sixth game.

    “Our level is pretty much the same but I’m lucky because I dealt with the key points better,” said Liu, who is also a three-time world champion. “I knew I had to start that sixth game with a positive attitude and the good start I had helped raise my confidence.”

    Meanwhile, Ding says she is yet to find a solution to end Liu’s supremacy in the Grand Finals: “I’m a bit disappointed because I managed to reach 9-9 twice but ended up losing those sets on my own serve.

    “Losing the first and third sets took down my confidence and that’s why I believe I lost.

    “This is the fourth time I’ve lost in the final of this competition. I guess I have to settle for the runnerup position for now. I have to work harder to try and win this title.”

    Earlier in the day, the men’s singles quarter-finals had an explosive start with world No1 Ma Long overcoming an inspired assault from world No3 Zhang Jike to advance to today’s semi-finals.

    Zhang, a former world and Olympic champion, was trying to win his first-ever Grand Finals and when he took a 2-0 lead over Ma, it looked like the 25-year-old would finally edge closer to the elusive crown.

    But Ma won three games on the trot and an improved strategy saw him seal the win 8-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11- 8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5 and set-up a semifinal against Korea’s Kim Minseok.

    “It’s been a little time since I have played in an international match, so at the start I was a little nervous,” said Ma. “But then I started playing longer instead of shorter and the new tactics worked.”

    Kim, the Under-21 Grand Finals champion in 2011, also endured a tough battle to reach the last-four. The Korean took a 3-0 lead only for his Japanese opponent Masato Shiono to level at 3-3. But Kim halted his opponent’s comeback to triumph 11-6 in the seventh game.

    France’s Abdel-Kader Salifou, the only non-Asian in the quarter-final line-up, lost to China’s world No2 Xu Xin 0-4, but was happy to reach the last eight on his Grand Finals singles debut.

    The last quarter-final of the day was won by 16-year-old Chinese Fan Zhendong, who triumphed 4-1 against his 30-year-old countryman Wang Hao – a three-time Grand Finals champion.

    “This match was very important for me. I’m young but I’m improving fast and I’m happy to beat someone as experienced as Hao,” said Fan.

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