BESPECTACLED LEBRUN CREATES A SPECTACLE

French teen set to reach career-high world No. 5 after reaching S’pore Smash semis

- David Lee

He is not old enough to legally sip wine, but Felix Lebrun has been savouring some champagne table tennis en route to becoming the top-ranked non-Chinese men's singles player at just 17.

On a day when Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha retained their Singapore Smash mixed doubles crown and extended China's perfect record to 11 titles since the US$1.5 million (S$2 million) event began in 2022, the French wunderkind signalled his intent to break the Chinese stranglehold.

On March 15, he continued his march to greatness as he beat India's Sharath Kamal 4-1 (11-9, 11-2, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8) at the OCBC Arena to progress to the last four, where he will meet China's world No. 2 Wang Chuqin on March 16.

The other semi-final will be conChina's fifthtested between ranked Liang Jingkun and Chinese Taipei's world No. 8 Lin Yun-ju.

Lebrun said: "I lost twice to Wang Chuqin this year, but my team and I will analyse his game and we will try to find solutions.