World champion, World Cup victor; Ma Long added to his list of successes by winning the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon on the evening of Sunday 13th December.The top seed, at the final hurdle, he beat Chinese National Team colleague, Fan Zhendong, the no.3 seed, to arrest the title in a scintillating final that will live long in the memory of those present in the Pavilhão Multiusos de Odivelas.
He succeeded by the very narrowest of seven game margins (12-10, 12-10, 11-13, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9)
The first three games in the final saw very little to choose between the two players, either could have been three-nil ahead; the outcome was that Ma Long was one game to the good.
It was at that stage, matters changed in favour of Fan Zhendong; who by making full use of the table, creating angles, forced Ma Long out of position on several occasions.
Superb in the rallies, Fan Zhendong won the third, fourth and fifth games; in the sixth he led 4-1. It appeared he was en route to a stunning victory.
Understandably Ma Long called “Time Out” but he looked tired, it did not appear to be the razor sharp Ma Long we had seen in Halmstad at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup.
Nevertheless, to his great credit, Ma Long fought, he dug deep, he dug very deep and levelled matters at 8-all; there was a renewed vigour in his step; he won the next point, a deciding seventh game beckoned.
In the seventh game at the change of ends, Fan Zhendong was in the ascendancy, he led 5-2; was there one last effort from Ma Long?
The answer was in the positive. Leading 6-3, Fan Zhendong elected for “Time Out”; it seemed a quite reasonable decision at the time but one he may now regret.
Ma Long won the next seven points; at 10-6 he held four match points, Fan Zhendong won the next three points but he could not make it four in a row. Ma Long, victorious sank to the floor, victorious, exhausted.
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