Panyushkin, the tournament's third seed, won five games in a row to take the opening set of the men’s singles final against French fourth seed Vincent Novelli.

Playing in only his fourth deaf tennis tournament following his debut in the Deaflympics in Sofia two years ago, the 21-year-old Panyushkin then dropped just the fifth game of the second set as he wrapped up a 6-2, 6-1 victory in this new event. 

More than 70 players from 20 countries contested the Championships organised by the Tennis Foundation, Britain’s leading tennis charity, in association with UK Deaf Sport, and sanctioned by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD).

“It feels good being world champion, I think it needs to sink in a bit and I will feel even better about it later,” Panyushkin said.

“Mentally the match was tough because I was afraid to lose.

"Because it was the finals I told myself I couldn’t lose so I felt some pressure, but after about 20 minutes on court I relaxed and just played my game.

“I was hoping for a medal when I came over here; however my coach was expecting me to win so there was some pressure from him.

"But as soon as I went on the court all the pressure went and I relaxed and I just had a good time.

“I’m going to go back to Moscow and have some time off and celebrate before I go back to America to study."

Second seed Mikael Laurent of France won the bronze medal, defeating Hungarian top seed Gabor Mathe 3-6, 6-4, 7-6.

Villamandos-Lorenzo, the fourth seed, came back from 2-0 against unseeded American Emily Hangstefer in the women’s singles final to force a first set tie-break after Hangstefer had a set point at 5-4 up on her serve.

Hangstefer then took a 3-0 lead in the tie-break, only to lose it 7-5.

Villamandos-Lorenzo built a commanding 5-0 second set lead and eventually went on to lift the inaugural world title 7-6, 6-3.

“This is my first international gold medal and it’s really inspirational,” said Villamandos-Lorenzo.

“When I arrived a week ago I saw the draw and I knew I was in for a big challenge and I knew I had to be mentally strong on court.

"When I got to the final I couldn’t believe it and this is such a big achievement for me.” 

The women’s doubles world title went to Chinese Taipei second seeds Chui-Mei Ho and Chia-Wen Lin, who beat American top seeds and 2013 Deaflympic champions Laura Chapman and Hangstefer 6-4, 6-4.

Chapman and Hangstefer won their Deaflympic gold medal in Sofia against a Chinese Taipei partnership in 2013, when Ho paired up with her sister.

Ho also won the women’s singles bronze medal.

The tournament came to a thrilling conclusion when second seeds Mikael  Laurent and Novelli edged out Austrian third seeds Mario Kargl and Robert Gravogl 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the men’s doubles final.

Related stories
October 2014: Nottingham set to host inaugural World Deaf Tennis Championships in 2015