Rising star Muramatsu made light work of Ouaiche, who had never been beyond the quarter-finals of an ITTF World Tour competition, with a crushing 11-9, 11-5, 11-7, 11-4 triumph to ensure he topped the podium.

The Japanese player's toughest contest came in the last four, where he needed the full seven games to get past Cho Seung-min of South Korea, eventually progressing to the by virtue of being on the right side of a 11-7, 7-11, 3-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7 scoreline.

Ouaiche's semi-final clash also went the distance before he saw off Serbian veteran Aleksandar Karakasevic 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin sealed the women's ITTF Czech Open crown in equally dominant fashion as she beat Japan's Maki Shiomi, another surprise finalist, 11-9, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6.

Yang used her defensive ability to help her reach the latter stages but it was her attacking play which came to the fore in the final as she dispatched her Japanese opponent with relative ease.

She also had to battle through a tricky semi-final as she overcame the challenge of tenth seed Matilda Ekholm of Sweden, while Shiomi survived a marathon last two games in her 11-6, 11-7, 16-14, 13-11 win against compatriot Honoka Hashimoto.

South Korea began to banish the demons of their poor performance at Rio 2016 - where the nation failed to claim an Olympic medal of any colour for the first time - as they were guaranteed victory in the men's doubles.

Cho Eonrae and Park Jeongwoo won the all-South Korean affair, sweeping aside Kim Minhyeok and Park Ganghyeon 11-8, 11-6, 14-12.

While Ekholm had suffered disappointment in the singles event, she had already guaranteed a Czech Open title as she partnered Hungary's Georgina Pota to the women's doubles crown.

The makeshift pair were on the brink of defeat when they trailed 2-0 to the Russian duo of Maria Dolgikh and Polina Mikhailova but fought back to clinch a valiant 9-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 success.