The two French players Alexis Lebrun and Jia Nan Yuan were eliminated in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Macao. The Frenchman lost in six sets against the world No. 1, while the Frenchwoman fell after a seven-set match that lasted over an hour.
Alexis Lebrun will be the only French player in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Macao. His brother Felix and Jia Nan Yuan both failed in the round of 16 this Friday, despite putting up a good fight. Facing the world No. 1 Chuqin Wang, who had always beaten him in their six encounters, the Frenchman, ranked 6th in the world, once again lost after a tough battle lasting 57 minutes, with a score of 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 15-13. Felix Lebrun won the first set, even though he was never in the lead, winning two points in a row to reach 9-9. The opposite scenario played out in the second set, where the Frenchman was always ahead (4-1, 7-2, 9-6) before losing the momentum and conceding five points in a row.
In the third set, Lebrun led from start to finish (6-2, 9-4) and managed to hold on to win 11-9, but then faltered from 3-3 in the fourth set, conceding a brutal 8-2. The fifth set also favored Wang, who made it 6-0 when the score was 5-5. The sixth set was the most fiercely contested. The Chinese player was mostly ahead (5-1, 9-6) and missed two match points at 10-8 and 10-9. The two players then took turns in the lead, and at 13-13, Wang scored the two consecutive points he needed to win the match. So it will be Wang facing the 16th-ranked player from Slovenia, Darko Jorgic, in the quarterfinals. For Felix Lebrun, the hurdle of Wang (turning 25 next month) was still a bit too high, but the gap between the two men is narrowing.
Yuan came so close…
Just before this match, the last French player remaining, Jia Nan Yuan, had an intense battle against Hana Goda, but she eventually lost. The 26th-ranked player defeated the 24th-ranked player after an extremely tight match lasting 1 hour and 12 minutes: 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-16, 11-8, 13-11! The French player will have big regrets. She won the first set by making a difference from 4-4 onwards, but lost the second set by conceding the last two points at 9-9. The Egyptian player then dominated the third set, thanks in part to a 7-0 run, but Yuan fought hard to win the fourth set 16-14 while saving two set points. The French player then led three sets to two by finishing strong in the fifth set, even though Goda held on until 7-7. However, the scenario reversed in the sixth set, with Yuan this time crumbling from 7-7 onwards.
So, this round of 16 match was decided in a decisive seventh set, with Yuan leading most of the time (5-3, 8-5, 10-7). But Goda saved three match points to level at 10-10, then a fourth at 11-10, and finally won the last three points to secure her spot in the quarterfinals, where she will face the top-ranked Chinese player, Yinsha Sun. It’s a cruel outcome for Yuan…
