Winner of the Girls’ Singles crown at the World Junior Championships in the Austrian city of Linz in December 2005; now 20 years old, Ding Ning won the Women’s Singles title at the English Open in Sheffield on Sunday 30th January 2011.
In an all Chinese final she beat compatriot Guo Yan and, in so doing, thwarted any aspirations that her adversary may have harboured of win consecutive titles on Yorkshire soil.
Guo Yan won the title in late 2009 on the last occasion the English Open was staged; in early 2011 she had to settle for runners up spot.
Seeded no.7, Ding Ning beat the top seeded Guo Yan 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 11-7.
Previous Encounters Two players from the same country, two players who know each other well, means that predicting a result is always a lottery but history on the ITTF Pro Tour most certainly pointed in favour of 27 year old Guo Yan.
The two had met twice before and on both occasions Guo Yan had prevailed.
At the Swedish Open in November 2007 she had won in five games in their third round duel and in January 2010, she had prevailed in hard fought full distance seven games duel at the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in Macao.
Second Title It was for Ding the second ITTF Pro Tour title of her career; in February 2009 she clinched the top prize at the Salwa Cup Kuwait Open.
Guo Yan who was unable to repeat her success of 2009 in Sheffield
