Agencies/Doha

Winners pose with officials on the last day of the Qatar Open yesterday
China made a clean sweep at the Pro Tour Qatar Open Table Tennis Championships yesterday, with German World No. 1 Timo Boll crashing to a stunning straight games defeat against the 20-year-old Xu Xin in the men’s singles final.
 Boll was the only non-Chinese player who could have won a title yesterday. All the other three finals – the women’s singles, women’s doubles and the men’s doubles – featured players from China who not for the first time established their supremacy in the sport.
Xu, who focused from the very start with a clear tactical plan not to give Boll any opportunity to release his electric forehand, secured victory in four straight games, 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8.
Xu Xin: emphatic win
Both Boll and Xu are strong from the forehand but their techniques are very different; the stroke executed by Boll is quick and fast and Xu’s shot more devastating.
Add to the outstanding ability over the table, the piledriver forehand, lightning footwork and in Xu Xin there is a player of the highest quality, one who could be the world champion.If he succeeds he will be only the second left handed penholder to achieve the feat after Japan’s Seiji Ono in Pyongyang in 1979.
After being faulted in the opening game on his service by the umpire, Austria’s Egon Vogel, Xu quickly settled to his task. He won a close first game and then dominated the next two with Boll never able to establish a rhythm.Boll and Xu had faced each other on three occasions in world ranking events prior to the meeting in Doha. On all three occasions Xu had won!
In January 2010, Xu won when the pair met in the first round of the Men’s Singles event at the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals. He won again later in the year in June at the Volkswagen China versus World All Stars Challenge and in August at the quarter-final stage at the Harmony China Open in Suzhou.
Earlier, China’s 19-year-old Liu Shiwen captured her fifth career ITTF Pro Tour women’s singles crown when she beat compatriot, 20-year-old Ding Ning in six games.
Liu Shiwen won 11-4, 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9.The meeting between Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning was their eighth in world ranking events with the former winning six,
 Attacking quickly from the backhand and creating angles whilst from the forehand consistently directing her attacks towards the backhand of the left handed Ding, Liu Shiwen captured the opening game.
However, in the second game, arguably pressing just too hard she lost the first the six points as Ding found her rhythm.
Liu continued the policy of staying close to the table and whenever possible attacking with her fast backhand from over the table to give Ding minimal time for reaction.