COPENHAGEN, Oct. 21(Xinhua) -- Germany's Timo Boll powered his way to victory over Croatia's Tan Ruiwu at the finals of the 2012 European Table Tennis Championships in Herning, central Denmark, on Sunday.
First seed Boll showed his mastery of the sport as he powered through 26th seed Tan 11-2, 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, winning in five sets, in 39 minutes.
Tan was on the back foot from the very first set, although he had already sent three other much better seeded German players packing in the tournament, to prove himself a tough competitor. He shook off final match nerves against the favorite Boll, and engaged in some good duels, even winning the fourth set.
Boll's technique was simply much better, and he went on to claim the title, which is the sixth European trophy of his career, making him the most successful European player of all time.
Earlier Sunday, third seed Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus beat 15th seed Xian Yifang of France in a grueling encounter lasting 51 minutes.
Pavlovich won 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11, in a match that commentators had predicted would be a drawn-out affair, given the extremely defensive nature of play by both competitors.
But the Belarusian showed patience and capitalized on the French player's mistakes, forcing the latter to move quickly and return high shots, which she exploited, and ultimately converted to a title win.