The sensation, winner of last year's German Open doubles title when only 13, remains over 200 days away from her 15th birthday and was not even born until three weeks after the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

But she made a mockery of her lack of experience by winning a thrilling battle with home hope Petrissa Solja after recovering from 2-1 down.

The teenager proved immune to the vocal home support as she fought back to win the last two games from deuce and eventually triumph 9-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-7, 14-12, 12-10, before declaring a Tokyo 2020 medal as her ultimate aim.

"I am shocked and ecstatic to win such a big title at my age," she said.

"This is just the beginning for me, I now need to continue playing at this high level and win many more titles."

"I now want to qualify for the Japanese team for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and do well.

"This will then give me the experience I need of realise my dream of gold in the singles and team event at my home Olympics, Tokyo 2020."

Runner-up Solja still had a good week, winning a remarkable 14 straight matches on her march to the final during a run which also included both the under-21 and women's doubles titles, where she teamed up with compatriot Shan Xiaona to secure victory.

Ma Long won men's singles title in Bremen after beating Olympic champion Zhang Jike ©ITTF/Ireneusz Stosik



There was less of a surprise in the men's singles as world number one Ma Long secured a 19th World Tour singles title, edging London 2012 Olympic champion team-mate Zhang Jike in a seven set thriller.

The 26-year-old had to save a match point before securing victory, avenging a loss to Zhang five months ago in Germany at the men's World Cup

"It was an extremely close match, with every single point being a big fight," the winner admitted.

"This victory gives me massive confidence for the upcoming World Championships [in Suzhou, China from April 26 to May 3].

"Zhang will be one of my biggest rivals there, so knowing I can beat him gives me great belief that I can win my first ever singles World Championships title."

Elsewhere, there was more home success in the men's doubles as Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska defeated Russia's Kirill Skachkov and Alexey Smirnov in an all- European final, while South Korea's Kim Donghyun secured men's under-21 singles victory.

The next stop on the ITTF World Tour is due to come in just two days time at the Spanish Open in Almeria.

Contact the writer of this story at nick.butler@insidethegames.biz


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