In an epic conclusion to WTT Star Contender Muscat, family bragging rights have gone to Felix Lebrun, who showed nerves of steel against older brother Alexis Lebrun in the title decider to claim the men’s singles trophy in Oman, winning 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 5-11, 13-15, 10-12, 11-6.
Two brothers leaving everything out on the table in pursuit of glory, it doesn’t get anymore personal than that, giving Muscat the Hollywood finale it was dreaming of.
Having come out on top in their last showdown at WTT Champions Montpellier 2024, Felix looked destined to follow that effort up with another winning display, dominating the exchanges early on to leave Alexis in his dust.
With the first three games all going to Felix, there was surely no coming back from this. However, Alexis had other ideas.
If there’s anyone who knows Felix’s game equally as well as Felix himself, then that person is his older brother. Alexis took everything he had learnt from all his prior encounters with Felix to mastermind an astonishing turnaround.
Down 10-7 in game five, Alexis saved all three championship points before denying Felix again at 12-11. He then somehow flipped the script again in game six, overturning a 7-3 deficit to draw gasps from the crowd.
From 3-0 to 3-3, it was now anyone’s guess as to which player would emerge with the trophy. Seeing that lead slip through his fingers, Felix needed a quick start in the decider to get things back on track, and he came through in the end, keeping his eyes on the prize to seal an exhausting victory.
“It was different, it was special. We were very happy to train together during the warm-up and enjoyed that moment. We know that it’s not every day that we get to play each other in a Final, so it was already a great event, but to take the title at the end with this scenario it feels really nice for me,” said Felix.
The women’s singles title was bagged by Miyuu Kihara, who returned to title-winning ways with an emphatic 11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 victory over Joo Cheonhui.
No.7 seed Kihara, who last held aloft a WTT Series trophy with her successful outing at WTT Star Contender Doha 2022, looked supreme all the way, staying cool, calm and collected despite dropping an important second game, finishing the job in five.
The Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex continued to churn out headlines, with Japanese duo Hitomi Sato-Satoshi Aida the latest to light up WTT Star Contender Muscat by defeating Taiwanese Cheng I-Ching-Lin Yun-Ju 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 to win the Mixed Doubles title.
Sato-Aida fought their way from qualifying to the final, upstaging top seeds Maria Xiao-Alvaro Robles along the way.
