China's Zheng Peifeng won his first ITTF World Tour gold at the Czech Open ©ITTF

China’s enigmatic Zheng Peifeng marked his maiden International Table Tennis Federation World Tour final with victory as he claimed the men's singles title at the Czech Open in Olomouc today.

In the final Zheng, who has played rarely in the last seven years and was not world-ranked before this tournament, beat Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, the number four seed, 13-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 at the OMEGA Sports and Health Centre.

It was a landmark win for Zheng, who came through qualifying a week after defeating the top seed at the Bulgaria Open, former world number one Dmitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, before being beaten in the quarter-finals.

Freitas thus fell one step short of regaining the title he won in 2014, his only previous ITTF World Tour men's singles triumph.

Japan's top seed Kasumi Ishikawa, runner-up in last year's women's singles final at the ITTF Czech Open, went one better today ©ITTF
Japan's top seed Kasumi Ishikawa, runner-up in last year's women's singles final at the ITTF Czech Open, went one better today ©ITTF

Japan’s top seed Kasumi Ishikawa, beaten by compatriot Mima Ito in last year’s women’s final in this event, earned the title this time around.

Ishkawa, world ranked fourth, beat Chinese qualifier Wen Jia 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11.

It was her ninth success in 14 ITTF World Tour women’s singles finals.

The ITTF World Tour circuit now heads to Stockholm for the penultimate event of the season, the Swedish Open which is due to run from November 1 to 4.