Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Thursday November 21, 2024 at 9:14 a.m.
Alexis and Félix Lebrun qualified for the semi-finals of the WTT Finals doubles tournament, the last tournament of their immense season.
French and European doubles champions, world vice-champions and Olympic team bronze medalists, the Lebrun brothers intend to conclude their immense 2024 season, which revealed them to the general French public, by winning the WTT Finals in Fukuoka, Japan. And they only have two steps left to climb, since they won their ticket to the semi-finals this Thursday. Opposed to the Japanese Sora Matsushima and Tomokazu Harimoto in the quarter-finals, the two brothers won in four sets: 6-11, 11-8, 15-13, 14-12 in 32 minutes. A very close match where they ultimately only won two points more than their opponents. They lost the first set quite easily after holding until 4-4, but recovered perfectly by starting the second with a 6-0 before winning by three points. Then they fought back to win the third as the two teams took turns taking the lead, before winning the last one by winning the last three points as the Japanese led 12-11.
A Franco-French semi-final?
“Sora (Matsushima) I know him, I played with him in 2021 (they are world champions in doubles under fifteen), he is already incredibly strong, and Harimoto is one of the players who “train the most on the circuit, they had the dynamic with them and tried everything in front of their audience”, reacted Félix Lebrun after the match, according to comments collected by The Team. En the semi-finals, the Héraultais could be opposed to another French pair, if Esteban Dorr and Florian Bourrassaud defeat the Hong Kongers Kwan Kit Ho and Siu Hang Lam (match at 11:45 a.m. French time). A little after noon, Alexis Lebrun will attempt to achieve the feat during his singles quarter-final against world No. 2, Chinese Shidong Lin. His brother Félix lost on Wednesday against the German Beneditk Duda.
