China claimed the first gold medal on offer at the ITTF World Tour event in Sapporo ©ITTF

China claimed the first gold medal on offer at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Japan Open as Xu Xin and Zhu Yuling beat Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata to clinch the mixed doubles title in Sapporo.

The fifth seeds prevailed with a 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 victory over the unseeded pair at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center.

The result handed Xu a third ITTF World Tour crown after he triumphed in Budapest and Doha with Liu Shiwen.

World number one and top seed Fan Zhendong of China booked his place in the semi-finals of the men's singles as he defeated compatriot Ma Long.

Fan dropped the third game but remained in control to claim a 14-12, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 win.

He will face team mate Xu for a place in the final of the ITTF World Tour Platinum event.

Chen Meng battled past Wang Manyu in seven games to reach the women's singles semi-finals ©ITTF
Chen Meng battled past Wang Manyu in seven games to reach the women's singles semi-finals ©ITTF

Xu reached the tournament's showpiece encounter and will have the chance to add the singles crown to his mixed doubles title after he overcame South Korea's Jang Woo-jin 11-5, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6.

The other semi-final will be between Sun Wen and Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-ju.

Sun beat colleague Liang Lingkun in six games 11-6, 13-11, 2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, while Lin despatched Brazil’s Hugo Calderano 13-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10.

In the women's singles, Miu Hirano of Japan ended compatriot Hitomi Sato's run with a 12-10, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 win.

Hirano's opponent in the last four will be Liu, who ousted China's Liu Fei 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 11-1, 11-5.

Sun Yingsha cruised past her fellow Chinese player Wang Manyu 11-8, 12-10, 11-4, 11-9 to set up a semi-final meeting with Chen Meng, who battled past team mate Gu Yuting 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-5.