World no. seven – 20 year-old Ding Ning from Heilongjiang – the 2005 World Junior Champion, whose career high-ranking saw her ranked no. four in the World  won her second ITTF Pro Tour Ladies Singles title with a superb performance against World no. one and the top seed Gue Yan, the defending English Open Champion.

Ding Ning who plays a fast fluent all-round attacking game which takes advantage of her height and athleticism made  a good start and although she missed out in the third game, she took the fourth end comfortably. She kept it together brilliantly in the fifth game, winning 11-7. Game set and match to Ding Ning : 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7.

Images courtesy tabletennisphotos.com

Steve Kerns