Chen Qi edged past Chuan Chih-yuan of Taiwan to capture his first tour men's singles title on Sunday, completing China's clean sweep of four titles at the Japan Open table tennis tournament.

Chen, whose previous best finish was runner-up in the Swedish Open last November, missed one match point leading three games and 10-9 in the fourth before fighting back from 0-3 and 2-5 down in the seventh.

The Chinese took a commanding 10-8 lead in the decider and made no mistake in his second attempt to finish off the 2002 Grand Finals winner 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 6-11, 4-11, 11-8.

It was the first time that China had taken all four titles here since 2000 and a third time overall in the 15-year history of the Japan Open.

In the women's singles, Athens Olympic champion Zhang Yining underlined her No 1 world status by beating world No 4 and defending champion Guo Yue and No 3 Niu Jianfeng to win her first Japan title.

Zhang, the Asian Games gold medallist beat the 2003 Asian champion Niu 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 for the title.

It was Zhang's fourth title on the tour this year, adding to her victories at the Korea, Singapore and China Opens.

Earlier, Sydney Olympic and two-time world champions Wang Liqin and Yan Sen won the men's doubles title that the pair also took in 1997.

Defending champions Guo Yue and Jiu Jianfeng pulled off an upset victory over Athens Olympic champions Wang Nan and Zhang Yining to take the women's doubles title for a second year.

(China Daily September 28, 2004)