The hope of French table tennis Alexis Lebrun, 19, offered himself the world No.1, the Chinese Fan Zhendong, Friday at the Macao tournament.
The Montpellier, 22nd in the world, won in four sets (11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9) against the Olympic vice-champion of Tokyo and qualified for the semis. -finals.
He will face the reigning Olympic champion, Ma Long, 4th in the world, for a place in the final. The other semi-final will pit South Korean Jang Woojin against Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto. “It’s a crazy thing ! I don’t realize too much. I tried to vary as much as possible and set up my power game and it worked really well. I had a level of service that I have rarely had,” said the winner after the match.
With his younger brother Félix, 16, 2nd Frenchman in the world ranking (34th), Lebrun took the bronze medal in doubles at the European Championships last year. The two boys met in the final of the French Championship last month in singles to the advantage of the eldest, who was defending champion. “We feel that something is changing in the French ping and that there is a lot of enthusiasm around us. It’s been great fun,” Alexis told Macau.
