In his quarter-final, the Romanian had defeated an even older opponent in 42-year-old Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, who won the men’s title in 1998, but his next veteran opponent beat him with something to spare by a scoreline of 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5.

Earlier in the day Ionescu had beaten Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson 12-10, 11-6, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9 in the semi-finals, where Boll advanced after a tough struggle against fellow German Patrick Franziska, eventually coming through 8-11, 14-12, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.

The women’s singles title went to Li Qian, making a first ever appearance in a European Championships final of any description for a Polish female player – and earning a notable success after returning from  two-year break following the birth of her first child.

The 32-year-old Chinese born player, who has represented her new conntry at three successive Olympics since becoming a naturalised citizen in 2007, won European bronze in 2011, but became destined to better that with a 13-11, 11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10 semi-final win over fellow Pole Katarzyna Grzybowska-Franc.

In the final it looked very much as if Li, seeded five, would finish with silver as Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska won the first two sets 11-8, 12-10.

But then the confidence seemed to drain from the Ukrainian, who was women’s singles runner-up in 2009, as she lost the next four sets 6-11, 6-11, 2-11, 2-11.

“At the start I could not find my game, but finally, everything came together,” said Li.