Kuai Man of China claimed her first WTT Star Contender singles title, while top seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan secured the men's singles crown at the season-opening tournament in Doha.
BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Kuai Man emerged as the winner in the women's singles event, while top seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan lived up to his billing by clinching the men's singles title at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Contender Doha on Saturday.
Chinese and Japanese paddlers split the five titles of the season-opening WTT tournament.
Kuai lifted her first singles trophy on the WTT Star Contender stage with an 11-6, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3 win over Japan's Miyuu Kihara.
Kuai admitted the title came as a surprise for her. "The straight-game wins in the semifinal and final have gone beyond my expectations, as I was not in fine form ahead of this tournament," she said. "I made full preparations, technically, tactically and mentally, and adjusted well on the court."
On the men's side, world No. 3 Harimoto also notched a straight-game victory, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 11-6, over Jonathan Groth of Denmark to secure his title.
"I played to my level in Doha, not too good, not too bad, just to what I did in my training," Harimoto remarked.
Also on Saturday, Japanese duo Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto came back from one game down twice to defeat Huang Youzheng and Shi Xunyao of China, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, for the mixed doubles crown.
The men's and women's doubles titles were decided on Friday, with Chinese pair Xu Yingbin and Xiang Peng triumphing in the men's doubles, while Japan's Satsuki Odo and Sakura Yokoi bagged the women's doubles title.
Attention will be shifted to the WTT Contender Muscat, which takes place from January 11-17. ■