Unseeded Chinese, Qihao Zhou has clinched the WTT Contender Lagos title, his first trophy, after beating third seed, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, in the final.
Zhou, ranked 35th, outpaced the German world No. 14, Ovtcharov, to win the men’s singles final 4-1 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7).
Both players were meeting for the first time since the 2018 ITTF Swedish Open, which he won 4-1.
The 26-year-old right-hander dictated the flow of the game and was 3-0 up in no time but the former World No.1 Ovtcharov, 35, recovered form in game four and won it 11-7. It was however too late as regained composure to secure the win.
The former world No.1 is Zhou’s third German casualty in the tournament after defeating Benedikt Duda and Patrick Franziska earlier in the week.
In the women’s event, top-seeded Korean, Shin Yubin, showed class and experience as she claimed her second singles title in the WTT Series.
Yubin came from a set down to beat unranked WTT Series debutant, Li Yake 4-3 (4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6).
Before the singles final, the 18-year-old Yubin, who lifted her first WTT Contender singles trophy last year in Nova Gorica in Slovenia, combined with compatriot, Jihee Jeon, to beat the Chinese duo of Siqi Fan and Weishan Liu, 3-1 (7-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-6).
The Koreans also showed dominance in the men’s doubles as Woojin Jang and Jonghon Lim overcame China’s Lichen Yuan and Peng Xiang 3-1 (12-10, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8).
In the mixed doubles, China’s Xiang and Liu beat Jang and Jeon 3-1 (9-11, 12-10, 6-11, 10-12) to claim the first trophy of the night.
Up next in the series is the WTT Contender Tunis which will serve from 20th – 25th of June, 2023.
