On Thursday, Zhang Yining became the first table tennis player to win the women's singles titles at the World Championships, World Cup, ITTF ProTour Grand Finals and Chinese National Games in the same year.

The 23-year-old world number one beat fellow Chinese Guo Yan 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, 11-5 in Guangzhou for the Women's World Cup.

Familiar opponents who often train together both in the Beijing club and the national team, they tied at 4-4 and 7-7 in the first set before Zhang took control of the game.

Zhang, grand slam winner of the Olympics, World Championships and World Cup, has been beset by slow starts this year, in particular when she had to come back from being 1-3 sets down to win against former world champion Wang Nan at the National Games.

She also had bad starts earlier in this year's World Cup, both in her defending opener against veteran Gao Jun and semi-final clash against Guo Yue, twice losing her first two sets before making a successful comeback.

The final day's matches were a different story for Zhang, with an 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 win against Hong Kong's Tie Yana before the final clash with Guo Yan.
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(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)