The world number two was given a tough fight by ninth seed Ma Lin in the final before edging home 21-16, 19-21, 19-21, 21-16, 24-22.

Liu needed four match points to clinch his first World title. He also landed the doubles crown on Saturday with Kong Linghui.

World number one Wang Nan added the women's doubles to her singles success yesterday. Top seeds Wang and Li Ju breezed past fourth seeds Yang Ying and Sun Jin 22-20, 21-14, 21-19.

China also swept all the individual titles at the 1981 championships in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, and 1995 tournament in Tianjin, China.

European hopes of halting the Chinese ended when Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner and Austria's Werner Schlager were eliminated in the men's singles semi-finals.

Defending champion Waldner was stunned by teenager Ma, who bounced back from two games and 16-11down to win 18-21, 14-21, 21-19, 21-19, 21-17.Schlager, who provided the biggest surprise of the week simply by reaching the last four, met his master in Liu and lost 21-10, 21-18, 18-21, 21-16.But despite his visible disappointment, Waldner, who has reached at least the semi-finals in all world championships since 1987 except for 1995, said he would not retire.

``I don't even have any thoughts on retirement. I am still young and plan to go on,'' said 34-year-old Waldner, the only player to have won Olympic, World and European Championship titles.