World number one table tennis player Fan Zhendong claimed a third straight International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Men's World Cup title courtesy of a thrilling 4-3 win over teammate Ma Long in a nail-biting final in Weihai in Shandong province.

The victory is Fan's fourth World Cup title in five years, following success in 2016, 2018, and 2019, and sees the 23-year-old equal Ma Lin's record.

Fan, nine years Ma's junior, entered the first men's final of the RESTART Series as the favorite to retain his crown.

But it was Ma who roared into an early lead, winning the first set 11-9.

That jolted Fan into action, claiming the second set 11-8 and the third 11-3, with some aggressive shots that forced Ma onto the defensive.

Having seemingly found his rhythm, world No. 1 Fan exploited his rival's faltering backhand to take the fourth set 11-6 for a 3-1 lead in the match, which looked as good as over.

But Ma wasn't finished yet and produced a string of superlative parallel shots to win the fifth set 11-7 and demonstrate why he is the reigning world champion.

Buoyed by the change in momentum, Ma dictated some of the best rallies of the tournament and displayed a much-improved backhand game to take a 10-1 lead in the all-important sixth set, before Fan responded to make it 10-6. Ma held his nerve to close the game at 11-7 and take the match to a deciding seventh set.

At 5-5, a clear leader wasn't apparent, until Fan took a key time out, which allowed him to rally and close the final set out 11-9 and secure the trophy with a 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9 victory.

Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto, who finished third last year, again clinched the bronze medal after defeating Jang Woojin of South Korea 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 14-12, 6-11, 11-5 in the third-place playoff.

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