Opposed to the world number two Wang Chuqin, Félix Lebrun lost on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Grand Smash in Las Vegas during the decisive round. The French still made a very high level service.
Félix Lebrun is getting closer to the summit. At the end of a superb meeting, the Frenchman (18) ended up giving in to the decisive round against the Chinese world champion Wang Chuqin on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Grand Smash Table Tennis of Las Vegas (United States).
The two players offered a very high level of almost an hour, won by the world number two (11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9) to its fourth match ball. A few hours after his defeat in the double final with his brother Alexis, Félix Lebrun (18, 7th in the world) suffered his fourth defeat in as many games against Wang Chuqin (25), but pushed the recent Doha world champion in his entrenchments.
The first final final in large Smash will wait
The two players exchanged the first four rounds before a first turning point in the fifth: Lebrun obtained a set (10-9) ball before losing the following three points to give in the Channel. More effective in long rallies but put in difficulty by a service of Wang, Lebrun, bronze medalist at the Olympic Games in Paris last year, was able to overthrow the sixth round (led 6-8) in particular of a diabolical backhand to snatch a decisive set (11-9).
At 4-2 in his favor, the young tricolor then lost five points in a row (5-7), Wang then obtaining four match balls at 10-6. Félix Lebrun was able to save three, but a last forehand fault prevented him from reaching his first single Smash final, the most raised tournament category on the WTT circuit.
