Félix Lebrun succeeds brilliantly in his entry into the competition at the Saudi Smash table tennis and qualifies for the round of 16

Félix Lebrun s’est imposé d’entrée de jeu. XinHua – Cheong Kam Ka

Le Français Félix Lebrun (6e mondial) a parfaitement réussi son entrée en lice au Saudi Smash de Jeddah, face au Kazakhstanais Kirill Gerassimenko (3-1) dimanche 5 mai.

For his first Saudi Smash – one of the three "Grand Slam” table tennis – everything went well for Félix Lebrun.

Opposed to the Kazakhstani Kirill Gerassimenko (39th in the world), the Montpellier native won three sets to one in order to qualify for the round of 16 of the competition.

In this next match, the world No.6 will face German Benedikt Duda (46th) on Tuesday for a place in the round of 16.

A final one-way set

At the start of the match, Félix Lebrun was trailing 2-4 in the first set before gradually regaining the upper hand. But Gerassimenko didn't give in and got himself a set point at 11-12, saved by the Frenchman who subsequently took the lead (13-11, 1-0).

The pattern repeated itself in the next round, the Kazakhstani leading from the start without being caught by Lebrun, guilty of too many mistakes to prevent him to equalize to 1-1 (11-7).

The match then took a turn with Félix Lebrun much more efficient on his strikes and many winning shots. The Montpellier player thus won the third round 11-5 (2-1), before flying over the fourth, leading 7-0, before winning the match (3-1, 11-4).