Félix Lebrun had to fight on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Grand Smash in Beijing. Jostled, the Frenchman finally beat the Chinese Chen Junsong in six sets (4-2: 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10). This is the second time this season that the 19-year-old from Montpellier has managed to reach the final four of such a tournament, the Grands Smashs representing the highest level of the world table tennis circuit.
The last one dates back to July and a semi-final lost after a superb match in front of the Chinese Wang Chuqin in Las Vegas. This time, he will face world No.2 Lin Shidong on Sunday, to try to reach the final of the competition for the first time in his career. Under the eyes of his older brother Alexis and his father Stéphane, a former player, Félix Lebrun had to work against Chen Junsong, a surprising quarter-finalist.
Only 113th in the world, the 20-year-old achieved the feat of taking out the No.4 seed, the Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto in the first round. He then eliminated the Frenchman Thibault Poret on his way. Although Félix Lebrun started his meeting ideally, Chen Junsong subsequently woke up. Greatly supported by the local public, he then managed to return to two rounds everywhere. An ideally placed time-out in the fifth set nevertheless gave another breath of fresh air to the Montpellier player, very happy to avoid the trap.
