China has reasserted its dominance in table tennis after the Singapore Smash, with Fan Zhendong tightening his grip on the men’s world No 1 spot and the country’s women taking the first three places in their rankings. Fan’s win in Singapore extended his lead at the top of the rankings, while compatriot Chen Meng reclaimed her women’s throne over Sun Yingsha after the single’s finals at the Infinity Arena. In-form Fan continued his winning ways from the world championships and WTT Cup Finals Singapore to clinch the men’s double event with Wang Chuqin. The 25-year-old, cordially nicknamed ‘Little Fatty’ back home, impressed again as he fought back in a tight singles final against the legendary Ma Long. The win allowed him to leapfrog the reigning Olympic champion in the rankings. Fan’s semi-final opponent, Japan’s Yukiya Uda, recorded the biggest ascent in the men’s top 50, climbing 20 spots to 29th after his victory over Qiu Dang of Germany in the quarters. Qiu climbed nine spots to a career-best 32nd, while China’s Liang Jingkun also reached a best-ever milestone despite losing to “The Dictator” Ma in the semis. Liang’s overall performance saw him gain enough points to dislodge previous world No 3 Hugo Calderano of Brazil, who suffered a shock exit in the early rounds. The women’s ranking came as no surprise, with perennial Chinese trio Chen, Sun and Wang Manyu claiming the top three places. The world No 1 spot continued to change hands between the former two. With her singles semi-final loss, Sun relinquished her title after just eight weeks, while women’s doubles teammate Wang pipped Mima Ito of Japan to world No 3. Meanwhile, Yuan Jianan of France and China’s Kuai Man also enjoyed big leaps up the table. Yuan, who defeated Ito in the round of 16, advanced 18 spots to world No 49 while Kuai who went up by 30 spots to world No 101 thanks to a good qualifying campaign. In the mixed doubles, Cheng I-ching and Lin Yun-ju of Taiwan kept their world No 1 ranking despite losing to Wang Chuqin and Sun in the final. The Chinese pair moved to the world No 2 spot and reduced the gap to the top to 86 points.