SUZHOU, Aug. 28 -- Third seed Guo Yan came out the biggest winner here on Sunday at the 330,000 U.S. dollars China Open as the world No. 4 triumphed for her first double at an ITTF ProTour event and pocketed 38,000 dollars prize money.
The 28-year-old former World Cup title holder got awarded for her persistence as she paired with world No. 5 Guo Yue to beat the Chinese teammates Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia 4-3 in the women's doubles final, before the veteran rallied past Ding, the newly crowned world champion in singles, in full sets.
It took Guo more than two hours to beat Ding 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8 late on Sunday night, when none of the four finals saw a single easy winner.
Ma Long, the Asian Games champion in Guangzhou last year, survived a tough men's singles final against reigning world champion Zhang Jike, winning 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5.
The men's doubles trophy went to Zhang Jike and Ma Lin, who beat Ma Long and Wang Hao 12-14, 11-7, 16-14, 11-13, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5.