Félix Lebrun, tenacious, and Simon Gauzy, brilliant, qualified for the round of 16 of the World Table Tennis Championships

On Tuesday, May 20, at the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, the day began with Alexis Lebrun withdrawing from the singles tournament due to pain in his right hand. The eldest of the Lebrun brothers, injured at the end of March, was making his competitive comeback in Qatar. He preferred to keep his chances of winning the doubles alive and will be alongside his brother Félix on Wednesday to face Sweden's Anton Kallberg and Truls Moregard in the round of 16.

Félix Lebrun is still in the singles competition. Late Tuesday, in the round of 16, the Frenchman beat South Korean Oh Jun-sung, 18 years old like him and ranked ^22nd in the world, 4-2 (11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-5). After an excellent start to the match (first set won 11-5), the Montpellier player led 9-5 in the second set before suffering a strong comeback (9-11) from his opponent, who was particularly comfortable returning serve. The South Korean then pushed his advantage in the third set (9-11).

Trailing 1-2, Félix Lebrun then responded perfectly and displayed great strength of character. After a tough battle, which was undecided for a long time, he won the last three sets (11-4, 11-9, 11-5). The bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Games will face either another South Korean, An Jae-hyun (world ^number 17), or Taiwan's Lin Yen-chun ( ^283rd ), on Thursday, for a place in the quarter-finals of these World Championships.

The strong performance of the day was achieved by Simon Gauzy. The Frenchman, ranked ^43rd in the world, also qualified for the round of 16 by overcoming the Danish Anders Lind, ranked ^22nd in the WTT rankings, and then the Chinese Lin Gaoyuan, 30 years old and ranked ^16th in the world, on the same day. In the first match, the two players had to play a fiery seventh set to decide the tie. Trailing 5-1, the Toulouse player saved a match point and then had to fight seven times to defeat Anders Lind 4-3 (11-6, 11-5, 4-11, 9-11, 3-11, 12-10, 15-13).

Next, facing the experienced Lin Gaoyuan, Simon Gauzy showed great combativeness to achieve the feat. Imperial in his characteristic defensive game and solid on his serve variations, the Frenchman won 4-2 (2-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3). He will face another Chinese player, world number 2, Wang Chuqin, in the next round.

It was the end of the road, however, for the young Thibault Poret, ranked ^33rd in the world, who was defeated 4-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9) by Wong Chun Ting. The Hong Kong player, who is ranked ^47th but is more experienced, took control of the game, frustrating the Frenchman, who was unable to find a solution.

In the second-round French-French encounter, Charlotte Lutz, ranked ^92nd in the world, took the lead 4-1 over Jia Nan Yuan, ranked ^36th . The 20-year-old Alsatian managed to take control of the game to dominate her opponent (11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7) and advances to the round of 32, where she will face China's Yingsha Sun, ranked number 1 in the WTT rankings. Prithika Pavade will also play in the round of 32. She delivered a very solid match to defeat Slovakia's Tatiana Kukulkova, ranked ^168th in the world, 4-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8). Relying on her serve variations, the world number 20 left her opponent with no hope, concluding in twenty-two minutes.