The 22-year-old replaces Olympic and world champion Ding Ning, who held the top position for the past 13 months and beat compatriot Zhu in the World Championships final in German city Düsseldorf earlier this year.

"Of course, I’m very happy to be able to be ranked world number one, but it’s just a ranking and doesn’t reflect the level of skills," Zhu, a two-time junior world champion, said.

"I hope being ranked world number one is going to be another motivation for me to continue work hard for competitions in the future."

As Ding has been inactive for four months, she loses her number two position and falls off the world ranking charts until she plays again.

This means that China’s Chen Meng is now at number two and is followed by compatriot and Women’s World Cup runner-up Liu Shiwen.

The Chinese trio are followed by three Japanese players with Kasumi Ishikawa, Miu Hirano and Mima Ito at number four, five and six respectively.

In the latest edition of the men’s world rankings, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov has advanced to a career high of number three after becoming the 2017 Men’s World Cup champion for the first time.

Reigning world and Olympic Champion Ma Long, who suffered a surprise defeat in the semi-finals of the Men’s World Cup to Germany’s Timo Boll, stays world number one ahead of fellow Chinese Fan Zhendong.

Like Ding, the Chinese pair of Xu Xin and Zhang Jike fell off the November list due to their inactivity over the last four months.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Ma, Fan and Xu had all been fined $20,000 (£15,000/€17,000) by the ITTF after they failed to appear for their respective second-round matches at the China Open in June.

Boll benefits from Xu and Zhang falling off the world ranking charts and has moved up to number four.

Japan’s Koki Niwa has climbed from number eight to five, while compatriot Jun Mizutani has risen from seven to six.

France’s Simon Gauzy has broken into the top 10 for the first time and sits in eighth position.