China's Sun Yingsha wins singles, doubles titles at 2023 Women's WTT Finals Nagoya

China's world No. 1 Sun Yingsha won both the singles and doubles titles at the 2023 Women's World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals on Sunday, which she describes was a perfect ending of a season, from which she will start anew. 

Sun, 23, survived four matches on Sunday, beating Olympic champion Chen Meng 4-1 in the singles semifinal before outclassing Wang Yidi in the final 4-2, and clinching two 3-1 victories in the doubles semifinal and final rounds paired with Wang Manyu. 

In a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics singles final, Sun established an early 9-5 lead in the opening game of the semifinal before Chen leveled the score. Although Sun managed to win the game with two points straight on serve, Chen came back from 7-4 behind in the second game to level at 1-1 with a 11-9 win. In the crucial third game, both called for breaks in an attempt to mess with each other's tempos, as the game went to Sun which sent her on a momentum to roar to a 4-1 victory in a best-of-seven format. 

Later in the final, Sun dispatched Wang Yidi 4-2 (12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7) to accomplish a singles hat-trick in the year-ending championships after winning the titles in Singapore in 2011, and China's Xinxiang last year. 

With an advantage of leading their head-to-head record of 5-4, Sun opened the match 2-0 before the world No.4 held off Sun's momentum in the third game to force multiple errors on Sun, who clinched a quick win in the fourth game, while Wang forced the match into the sixth game. Sun sealed the deal with three match points in hand, taking her seventh singles title of the season. 

"I'm happy to win this match. We are very familiar with each other, and both played in our best forms today," said Sun. 

In the doubles final, Sun and Wang defeated local pair Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki 3-1 (12-10, 8-11, 11-4 and 12-10) to claim a much needed victory for themselves, as the Chinese pair had only won one doubles title this year before Sunday. Earlier, they beat teammates Chen Meng and Wang Yidi 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2), as all four Chinese women were registered in at least two matches in the day.

"Manyu and I had suffered from a title drought in the doubles event. I think today will become a good memory for the both of us in days to come. The young Japanese duo is very good. We did thorough preparation against them and played with our best efforts. We're happy to win the match," said Sun.

"We needed this title to boost our confidence, which helps with our cooperation in the future," echoed Wang.