The 24-year-old fifth seed, winner of an Olympic silver medal in the team event at Rio 2016, was on the brink of defeat at 3-0 down in games at the Pierrier Sports Hall in Montreux only to fight back to win 4-3 against the odds.

Playing Romania’s defending champion Bernadette Szőcs she eventually won 9-11, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.

Her win marked an incredible improvement from 12 months ago when at the same venue in the same tournament, Solja crashed out in the first round.

"I was very nervous at the beginning," she said.

"I did not play at my best.

"Also Bernadette knows my service game, she can read my spin.

"After I lost three games, my coach encouraged me to win at least one game, to play with less pressure.

"Slowly I returned into the match.

"I was thinking only about the next point."

Her victory came after Austria’s Sofia Polcanova, the top seed, beat Poland’s Natalia Partyka 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6 to claim the bronze medal.

In the men’s event another German Dimitrij Ovtcharov won the title after knocking out his compatriot and defending champion Timo Boll in the semi-finals.

The four-time Olympic medallist claimed the title for the fourth time with a tight 4-3 win of his own over Belarus’ Vladimir Samsonov.

He had previously won the title in 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

Having seen off Boll in a similarly tight match, the final ended 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 14-16, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10 in Ovtcharov’s favour.

Boll, meanwhile, bounced back from his semi-final defeat to win the bronze with another 4-3 victory over Austria’s Daniel Habesohn.