Unbelievable upset as Lebrun ousts top seed Fan
21 April 2023
19-year-old Alexis Lebrun has landed the upset of the week at WTT Champions Macao 2023 after clinching a sensational 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Men’s Singles top seed and title favourite Fan Zhendong (11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9).
Ranked at No.1050 in the World as recently as January 2022, World No.22 Lebrun has enjoyed an astonishing rise to prominence over the past 15 months and was appearing in his third WTT Champions quarterfinal on Friday evening.
The French ace was bidding to become the first European player to defeat World No.1 Fan since Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s 3-2 victory at the WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022 last October.
In addition, Fan entered the match in supreme form having swept titles at Singapore Smash 2023 and WTT Champions Xinxiang 2023. However, Lebrun wasn’t at all fazed by the mammoth task that awaited him, embracing the occasion right under the spotlight.
Setting the tone early on, Lebrun went for the jugular right from the opening point, leaning on his electric pace to put his opponent under the cosh.
FOLLOW EVENT ACTION
Off to a blinding start, Lebrun not only held a one-game lead but went on to race 6-1 ahead in game two to raise the tension even further inside Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion. However, Fan is World No.1 for a reason and would soon show his class, responding by taking 10 of the following 12 points to level the scores at one game apiece.
With spectators on the edge of their seats, Lebrun and Fan continued to bring the heat in games three and four to force the match into a decider, and incredibly there was still more drama to come.
Neck-and-neck at three points each, the contest was beautifully poised in the early stages of the fifth game, waiting for one player to outshine the other, and it looked as though that would be Fan as the World champion opened up a commanding 3-7 lead.
However, there was one last twist in the tale as Lebrun, who looked to be heading home, pulled off a remarkable comeback, claiming seven points from the following eight to earn a stunning 10-8 advantage. Fan rallied well to save one match point, and thought he had saved another only to see Lebrun’s desperate return clip the edge of the table to bring the match to a dramatic close.
Holding up his hand in acknowledgement of his final point fortune, Lebrun’s apology soon turned to celebration, roaring to the crowd before embracing his coach in sheer delight in realisation of what he had just accomplished.
"I feel amazing! He's the World No.1. He played very, very good, so I think I did amazing today and reached my peak service game. At 3-7, I looked at my coach and he just said to fight for every point, stay positive and just try to win one point at a time. That got me back to 7-7, and then I just tried to win the game. We prepared just like any other match. I think he played better than the other players I met in the previous rounds, but it's still table tennis and so we just looked at what services worked well against him and I just tried to play my game." Alexis Lebrun
The result means Alexis Lebrun becomes the first-ever French player to reach the Men’s Singles semifinals at a WTT Champions event, and follows in the footsteps of fellow French player Jia Nan Yuan, who reached the last four of the Women’s Singles event at WTT Champions Macao 2022.
Another giant awaits Lebrun on Day 6 with double Olympic champion Ma Long providing the opposition for the French star.
Check out the complete results from Day 5 here.