Top seed Ma Long of China beat compatriot Fan Zhendong to win the men's singles event ©Getty Images

Top seed Ma Long of China beat compatriot Fan Zhendong to clinch the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Qatar Open men’s singles title at the Ali bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha.

Ma, the current world champion and world number one, raced into a two-game lead before Fan got himself back into contention by taking the third.

It proved to be a fleeting moment of success for Fan in an eagerly anticipated clash between the world’s top two competitors as Ma went on to secure an 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5 victory to reassert his status as the best male table tennis player in the world.

He had overcome a dangerous opponent in Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the last four earlier on the final day of the competition in the Qatari capital, progressing to the tournament’s showpiece contest by virtue of a 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 success.

The result was Ma’s 14th consecutive win against Ukrainian-born Ovtcharov, who won gold at the inaugural European Games in Baku last year.

The women’s singles crown also went the way of the top seed as China’s Liu Shiwen cruised to a comfortable 4-1 triumph over compatriot and number two seed Ding Ning.

Liu, who lost out to Ding in the final of the 2015 World Championships in Suzhou, never looked in doubt of claiming the title despite dropping the second game.

China's top seed Liu Shiwen proved too strong for team-mate Ding Ning in the women's final
China's top seed Liu Shiwen proved too strong for team-mate Ding Ning in the women's final ©ITTF/Hussein Seyed

The 24-year-old ensured she finished top of the pile by recording an 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 win against Ding, who was no match for her team-mate and was forced to settle for second place.

Liu had been in confident form throughout the tournament and reached the final by dispatching another Chinese player in Zhu Yuling, the third seed, in straight games 11-6, 11-3, 11-8, 11-2.

Ding also enjoyed a relatively straightforward path to a meeting with Liu as she beat Hong Kong’s Tie Yana, seeded 14th, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-2.

The two formidable Chinese players were involved in a thrilling women’s doubles final before they faced off for singles supremacy as they teamed up to oust Japan's Ai Fukuhara and Mimo Ito 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7

Despite the defeat in the singles final, Fan did manage to leave Doha with a Qatar Open title to his name as he partnered Zhang Jike to the doubles crown as they overcame Japanese duo Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura 11-8, 11-9, 11-7.