MONTREUX, Switzerland, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian Darko Jorgic successfully defended his men's singles title for the second consecutive time at the China Construction Bank Europe Top 16 table tennis Cup here on Sunday, dominating the tournament with an effortless 4-1 win over Sweden's Truls Moregard in the final.
In the women's singles final, France's Yuan Jianan staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Austria's Sofia Polcanova 4-3, clinching her first-ever Top 16 singles title.
Jorgic, who breezed past Portugal's Marcos Freitas 4-0 in the semi-finals, secured his third title in just over half an hour, winning 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7. The Slovenian has become the fourth player to win the Top 16 three times in a row.
"I showed amazing performance on Saturday and Sunday. Today I was more focused on the points from every set. I'm really happy with my balls today," Jorgic said.
Moregard, who defeated France's Alexis Lebrun 4-1 in the semi-finals, lost his rhythm and patience after taking a 1-0 lead, as his opponent played an all-around game.
Yuan narrowly won a thrilling semi-final against Romania's Bernadette Szocs, prevailing 4-3 after being down 3-1.
The reigning European mixed doubles champion fell behind again in the final, trailing 3-2, before winning the last two sets to claim her first title here, with scores of 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6.
"I had nothing to lose when I trailed 3-1 in the semis. It's the same in the final. I've already survived from such a difficult semis, all I need to do was to take every point I can take. I'm so happy with the first singles title on this level," Yuan sobbed.
Polcanova, who also finished second in 2023, collapsed in the last two sets when Yuan's fickle servers created too much trouble to her. ■
