At this year’s WTT Champions event in Montpellier, held from October 28 to November 2, TIBHAR players delivered numerous sporting highlights. The highly prestigious tournament featured only 32 participants each in the men’s and women’s singles.
As one of the main sponsors, TIBHAR was prominently represented with tables, balls, and flooring, while many of our top athletes also took part on court.
In the men’s singles, Alexis and Félix Lebrun, Darko Jorgic, Tomislav Pucar, and Oh Jung Sun were part of the draw. Among the women, Bernadette Szőcs and Yangzi Liu from Australia represented TIBHAR. The tournament got off to a great start in the round of 32, featuring several thrilling encounters. One of them was a direct TIBHAR clash between Darko Jorgic and Tomislav Pucar, which the Slovenian won 3–0. Félix Lebrun started his campaign confidently with a 3–0 win over Jonathan Groth, and Oh Jung Sun also advanced to the round of 16 with a victory over Wen Ruibo. A special highlight came from Bernadette Szőcs, who produced a sensational 3–0 win over top-seeded Chinese player Chen Xingtong in the opening round. Unfortunately, Yangzi Liu was defeated 3–1 by Japanese defender Honoka Hashimoto. In the round of 16, Darko Jorgic continued his strong run with a narrow 3–2 win against Shinozuka from Japan, while Félix Lebrun was edged out by fellow Frenchman Simon Gauzy. Alexis Lebrun showed impressive fighting spirit, saving multiple match points against Tomokazu Harimoto to reach the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Bernadette Szőcs couldn’t quite repeat her first-round form and fell to eventual finalist Sabine Winter. The quarterfinals brought another TIBHAR duel between Alexis Lebrun and Darko Jorgic. The Frenchman prevailed 3–1 in a thrilling match that had the Montpellier crowd on its feet. Later, Alexis was stopped in the semifinals by the eventual champion Truls Moregard, losing 1–4 — still a remarkable performance from the young French star. We look back on a fantastic tournament, inspired by the atmosphere in Montpellier and proud that such a prestigious event was played entirely on TIBHAR equipment.