Ding Ning completes hat-trick of women s singles titles at TT worlds

Dusseldorf (Germany) June 4 (IANS) World No.1 Ding Ning beat fellow Chinese and third seed Zhu Yuling 4-2 to win her third women s singles title at the World Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

Ding also the Olympic champion in Rio won the first game 11-4 but Zhu playing her first final in the world championships pulled two back 11-9 11-4 for a 2-1 lead reports Xinhua news agency.

The two players then displayed a beautiful attacking game. Ding who won the world title in 2011 and 2015 saved a game point from 9-10 winning three points in a row to make it 2-2.

Zhu whose only winning record against Ding came in the 2015 China Open final made too many errors while the 27-year-old Ding played steadily and accurately leading all the way to win 11-6. She went on to take the next game 11-7 to seal the title.

It is very special to win the world title for a third time she said. It is a teamwork of the Chinese national team.

Ding will also play the doubles semi-final with teammate Liu Shiwen. I hope to play well in the women s doubles tomorrow and then I will relax and enjoy the break she said when asked about her future.

Ding who earlier won the World TT women s singles title in 2013 and 2015 became the third Chinese woman player to record a hat-trick of world singles title following Deng Yaping and Wang Nan.

--IANS
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