Sun Yingsha's return and a scare for the world No 1 led the opening day of WTT Champions Montpellier. Sun beat France's Camille Lutz 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 in her first match for about three weeks, while Sora Matsushima, the top seed, led Germany's Dang Qiu by two games, lost the next two and then took the decider 11-2.
Thirteen first-round matches were played across two sessions at the Sud de France Arena. The seeds mostly went through, but the day's two longest matches, both comebacks from two games down, came from further down the draw.
Watch
Sun's return
Sun had not played since a last-32 defeat at the China Smash, after which she missed the Asian Championships in Tashkent. Against Lutz she was rarely troubled, and the match lasted 21 minutes. She said afterwards, in comments carried by Sina Sports, that injury and illness had disrupted her training in recent months and that she had returned to a normal routine only about 10 days before travelling to France.
She plays South Korea's Shin Yubin in the last 16. Shin opened the tournament with an 11-2, 13-11, 11-5 win over Taiwan's Cheng I-Ching, taking the second game on extra points.
Matsushima's escape
Matsushima looked comfortable for two games against Qiu, winning both 11-8. The German then took the third 11-3 and the fourth 12-10 to force a decider, which Matsushima controlled from the start. He won it 11-2 and plays Darko Jorgic or Vladimir Sidorenko next.
Lebrun's quick start
Félix Lebrun, the world No 2 and the 2024 champion here, needed 15 minutes 33 seconds to beat Denmark's Anders Lind 11-8, 11-3, 11-3, the shortest match of the day. Once he had taken a close first game he won 14 of the next 17 points. Lebrun said afterwards that a 3-0 win would give him confidence and that he had incredible memories of the venue. He meets Oh Junsung or Zhou Qihao in the last 16.
It was a harder day for the other French players. Lutz lost to Sun, and Thibault Poret went down 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 to the defending champion, Truls Moregard. Moregard reached for his shoulder during the third game and paused before serving, but finished the match without further trouble.
Two comebacks
Elias Ranefur beat his Swedish teammate and close friend Anton Källberg 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8 in 45 minutes. He trailed 6-10 in the fourth game, saved four match points, and the match was held up for a long break while a wound on his arm was treated. He meets Alexis Lebrun or Patrick Franziska next.
South Korea's An Jaehyun went one better for drama. He lost the first two games to Egypt's Omar Assar, levelled at two games all and won the decider 13-11 after 52 minutes, the longest match of the day. He plays Lin Shidong, who beat An's compatriot Lim Jonghoon 11-7, 11-8, 11-2, recovering from 0-6 down in the second game.
Lin Yun-Ju also had to come from behind. Portugal's João Geraldo led him 2-1, but Lin won the fourth 11-4 after a timeout and the fifth 11-6.
The rest of the women's draw
Chen Yi, the new Asian champion, lost her first game 12-10 to Taiwan's Peng Yu-han after leading 9-8, then dropped 12 points in the next three. Hina Hayata beat Hong Kong's Doo Hoi Kem 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 after trailing 3-8 in the first game, and Romania's Bernadette Szőcs beat South Korea's Kim Nayeong 11-7, 12-10, 11-9. Hayata and Szőcs meet in the last 16.
Szőcs will have company from home. Elizabeta Samara beat Germany's Han Ying, the oldest player in the women's draw at 43, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7. Han said her form had felt fine but that something had been missing on the day.
Results in full
- Shin Yubin (KOR) bt Cheng I-Ching (TPE) 11-2, 13-11, 11-5
- Elias Ranefur (SWE) bt Anton Källberg (SWE) 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-8
- Sun Yingsha (CHN) bt Camille Lutz (FRA) 11-6, 11-5, 11-3
- Lin Shidong (CHN) bt Lim Jonghoon (KOR) 11-7, 11-8, 11-2
- Hina Hayata (JPN) bt Doo Hoi Kem (HKG) 11-9, 11-7, 11-9
- An Jaehyun (KOR) bt Omar Assar (EGY) 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11
- Bernadette Szőcs (ROU) bt Kim Nayeong (KOR) 11-7, 12-10, 11-9
- Lin Yun-Ju (TPE) bt João Geraldo (POR) 8-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6
- Félix Lebrun (FRA) bt Anders Lind (DEN) 11-8, 11-3, 11-3
- Chen Yi (CHN) bt Peng Yu-han (TPE) 10-12, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5
- Sora Matsushima (JPN) bt Dang Qiu (GER) 11-8, 11-8, 3-11, 10-12, 11-2
- Elizabeta Samara (ROU) bt Han Ying (GER) 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7
- Truls Moregard (SWE) bt Thibault Poret (FRA) 11-8, 11-6, 11-8
Day two
The first round continues on Wednesday. The women's top seed, Wang Manyu, plays Egypt's Hana Goda at 12.10pm UK time, Tomokazu Harimoto meets Simon Gauzy at 6.05pm and Alexis Lebrun plays Patrick Franziska at 7.15pm. The day two preview has the full order of play.
