FULL MATCH ｜ Felix Lebrun vs Tomokazu Harimoto ｜ MS F ｜ #WTTMontpellier 2024

Felix Lebrun to begin. The noise in here. It's been electric the whole week. The WTT Champions Montpellier. So many of the world's best came, saw a chance but have been conquered. This is it. One, two. Gavin, stylistically, what are we looking out for here apart from the elephant in the room that is the penhold grip? Two. Both of these players. One of the fastest combinations they both play in the world from the backhand side. I think we're going to see a lot of backhand to backhand exchanges. And I think that France will be settled in a round. Who can make the variations? Who can switch down the line at the fastest and best opportunities? Who can exploit their opponent in the middle of the table? And who wins that war backhand to backhand? They're both just awesome backhand to backhand players. Harimoto has taken out all of the very, very best players in the world. Earning that title himself. Three, four. Seatbelt shot brilliantly done from Harimoto. And if there's anyone that can battle the noise of this French crowd, it's Tomokazu Harimoto. Left, four, all. For me, Felix is so much stronger with the service game. Yeah, we'll see a lot of that as this contest goes on. Long services, probably from both players. As I mentioned, very strong backhands on both sides. They'll be looking to eliminate the possibilities of their opponents stepping in with the backhand flick as often as possible. Five. He's going to be excited about this one, Tomokazu Harimoto. He's had such a good season. Winning the contender two days in the star contender Bangkok, where he was triple crown champion. Had a great Olympics himself. He was so unfortunate to not come away with a medal after taking Fan Zhendong to the seventh game in the quarterfinals. But Felix was the big star there. Stars aligning in many ways for the Frenchman here. Takes an 8-5 lead. Six, eight. Harimoto has to be a little bit nervous playing against Felix after what he saw Felix did to Lin Shidong. Seven, eight. It is also a matter of their head-to-head. He knows that he hasn't beaten Felix in this kind of competition before. Especially when you've got the extra man that is the French crowd here. Hasn't dropped a game yet today. Starting as he means to go on the Frenchman. And he takes it. 11-7. Will he be seventh heaven? I still expect this to be quite close. One, low. Left. One, low. Low, two. Left. Low, two. A lot of long serves here, Gavin. To let their opponent dominate over the table with the backhand. It's actually better for them to start longer at the table than it is in close where they can get more explosive power. Yeah, I see what you mean there, Gavin. Those in-to-out transitions won't be tested as much with that long serve. Both forcing each other in an imposing way to enter the storm right away. The storm being the open play which both feel like they can win. One, five. Chinese coaches there, Lingai Ren and Lin Shidong. Two, five. Corner to corner. From Félix Lebrun. Four. So strong there with his forehand again. Down the short side. Hooks it. That's just so good from Félix Lebrun. How he changes direction at the last moment. Hooks it with his wrist. Serve success here, both solid. Félix Lebrun winning three quarters of his points with and behind his serves. That hook was delightful, wasn't it? Bending that wrist. Nobody saw it coming. It's a lot of composure and feeling to be able to do that. Advantageous. So much more use of the wrist. Obviously in that backhand when Félix is exploding into it. Seven. Do you see the reverse penhold as a disadvantage for the backhand? Do you think it's harder to do with the penhold grip? Left. I think historically you would say yes. But when you look at players like Félix Lebrun and how he does it, I don't see any disadvantages there. Try telling him that. Downshow as well. Mingwang Hao. Yokohama. World champion from 2009. One of the greatest penhold players that I'm sure have influenced Félix Lebrun as well as Chen Jian. Nine. Mighty choke from Tomokazu Harimoto. And exchange, Félix Lebrun. Just that little bit wider out in the Harimoto backhand forcing him off balance. Too much pressure. And it's a game point. You're a former international player, Gavin, from Ireland. Is this the biggest crowd you've ever seen? I think this is 100% the loudest crowd I've ever seen, that's for sure. I've been to several events around the world where we've got obviously a massive fan base. But this crowd is just different gravy. Ducting their main instrument, Félix Lebrun. It's been an orchestra here in the Infinity Arena. Tassé just telling him to calm it. A little bit extreme to go for such a backhand there, Harimoto. But that's the sign of the pressure he's feeling. He's getting picked apart now. Remember, already called the timeout in the previous game, Tomokazu Harimoto. Wasn't fruitful for him. Did well to stay in that rally, Harimoto. Félix looked favourite. But just holding in long enough. Molan will be the happier of the two coaches we've just seen up to this point. A man in Molan who you know yourself, Gavin. Yeah, meteoric rise for Nat Molan as a coach. Not only the Lebrun brothers, he's come up with them. Nat Molan now finds himself here. Champions Final with Félix Lebrun. From the ITTF Coach Awards, Molan. Next, Savantou. Coach of the Year, of course. Tomokazu broke there, Harimoto. Just a running forehand on his backhand side. Adjusting his service position here, the Japanese player. Getting vocal again. He's got to identify his low-hanging fruits, Harimoto. He's best when he's close to the table, controlling with the backhand. Moving his opponent from side to side. Oh, Félix Lebrun. Harimoto found a chance. A great forehand cross-court, but Félix Lebrun telegraphed it. And sent it back with interest. What a counter as Hachard there. Alexis Esteban-Dor. Watch on. He's going to win this match at this rate. He's going to win this Champions Montpellier. Shakespeare couldn't write it. 5-9. He's gone from winning his first contender, beating Dima in Antalya, to winning his first side contender in Goa. Looking to upgrade again here at the Champions tier. 6-9. Still got a lot of work to do, Félix Lebrun. Harimoto, a player with serious pedigree. Serious titles to his name. Just looks written in the stars for Félix Lebrun. He does. He's had his feathers ruffled here. The peacocking Japanese player. 10-6. Running forehand to kick a saw here from Harimoto. Finding a way to put these balls back on the table. Stamping in frustration Tomokazu Harimoto. Left to left. 2-1. Perhaps a little bit affected as well by his sister's defeat to Satsuki Odo in the last match. 2-0. Now remember, the Champions final. The inaugural Champions event in the summer series. In Budapest. Tomokazu Harimoto is in the final against Lin Gaoyuan. And saved 6 Championship points. I think he was 3-0 down in that final before he came back to win the whole thing. So this is not over yet. He has the qualities, the minerals, to still cause issues here. 3-4. Left. 3-4. Left. 3-4. 5-3. Takes a two-point lead. Getting a run here, Harimoto. Managing to strike when the iron's hot with the forehand. It's not looking any worse than it usually is here. But Felix. He's got his racket on every ball so far. Adjustments with his footwork. You can hear the patter. He anticipates where that ball's going to come to. To make these shots possible. Great long serve again from Felix. Just to stop that Harimoto backhand flick. And looking uncomfortable. That was close. He would have just got out of control if he's winning that point. Not quite the same kind of player as his brother Alexey Lebrun. Felix. Good back there, don't get me wrong. But not as good as his big brother. 6-6. 7-6. A little bit of luck as the ball touches the net on the way over for Harimoto. But you can see just how much he's got to go for broke. He's giving everything into each ball. 6-8. Aspi Cho from Tomokazu Harimoto. Begs, are we going to see another game? 6-9. It's a big difference mentally when you have a game on the board. As opposed to being on zero. To his knees. He just watched it hit the net. And drop back onto the table. Unfortunate there for the Japanese number one. Still. Two ahead, two away. That's a wonderful win. Great forehand there from Harimoto. Just hooking it back towards the Lebrun forehand. Well then. You're not bageling me, says Tomokazu Harimoto. The ambience. The appreciation. Not just for favourite players, but all players. Best 32. The creme de la creme here at this Champions event. As Felix Lebrun goes 2-1 up here. In the last game. What does he need to continue looking to do? I think he has to find a way to get out of this backhand-backhand. And normally you would never say that about a Harimoto match. So strong in that area. But right now Felix just has too much variation. To the middle, to the backhand. Harimoto doesn't know where Felix is going to play. He needs to try and make this a more forehand-orientated game. If he wants to have a chance. Agreed. He's getting dusted by Felix's RPB. Pass switch there again. No giveaway with the fore motion what he's going to do. Difficult to do it though, Fraser. When Felix Lebrun is serving bullets down at you. Never allowing it to get closed down into a short game. Where maybe Harimoto might have a better chance. He's keeping everything open. Happy to play the rallies. Trade blows at all times. It's so hard to deny Lebrun that backhand on the third ball. Because that long serve he's doing into the middle is so side-spinny. And you saw Harimoto try to play a short backspin serve. And get that first ball in. But again, Lebrun just pushes long and says, let's play. Harimoto just hasn't been able to express himself. Like he did against Benedikt Düder. He was the man that beat Felix Lebrun. At the quarter-finals of the European Championships. In Linz recently. Felix won the men's doubles with his brother Alexey. Beating Moragard and Chalabri in the final. But this. This right here. Would be as well as the Olympics. His biggest achievement today. Definitely his biggest WTT achievement. A little bit of luck there for Felix. He won't mind. Probably the first time we've seen him miss that ball in this game. It was a difficult one, wasn't it? Because Harimoto spinned into that middle zone. The body's an obstacle. You can't bring the wrist back as much with the backhand there. But in poor position. Anticipation starting to build in the crowd. In this situation. This is going to be it. Surely.