It's been a battle, but Ma Long has made it to the final in Zhengzhou ©Getty Images

Top seed Xu Xin has been knocked out of the men's singles semi-finals at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Zhengzhou, China.

The Chinese player lost to compatriot Ma Long 11-7, 16-14, 11-7, 4-11, 4-11, 11-6 in the last four.

Ma had come through a thrilling quarter-final earlier in the day, defeating Liang Jingkun, also of China, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8.

It will be an all-Chinese affair in the final, with second seed Fan Zhendong, the 2017 champion, laying in wait.

Fan enjoyed a comfortable 4-1 victory over Brazil's Hugo Calderano in the quarter-final, and was far too strong for Lin Gaoyuan in the semi-final.

Lin fought hard, but was eventually defeated 11-7, 11-13, 11-3, 11-3, 9-11, 11-3.

In the women's competition China has also dominated, with Wang Manyu facing Chen Meng in the final showdown.

Wang Manyu's semi-final was against Wang Yidi, the conqueror of top seed Sun Yingsha.

However, Wang Yidi's exertions obviously affected her game and she couldn't repeat those heroics, going down 4-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3).

Second seed Japanese Mima Ito was slight favourite against third seed Chen Meng, but the Chinese had other ideas.

After losing the first set 12-10, Chen stormed back to take the next four, 11-8, 11-5, 13-11, 13-11.

The finals take place tomorrow.