Felix Lebrun Claims WTT Champions Chongqing Title, Defeats Wen Ruibo 4-1

Felix Lebrun sealed a hard-fought 4-1 win over China's Wen Ruibo in Sunday's men's singles final at WTT Champions Chongqing 2026, taking the match 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11 to claim the title in southwest China's Chongqing.

The fifth-ranked Frenchman, widely regarded as one of the world's leading penhold players, leaned on his trademark quick-fire attacks throughout. Wen took the third game to force some late tension, but Lebrun closed out the fifth 13-11 to deny the Chinese player on home turf. "This is an amazing journey," Lebrun said afterward. "I am super excited that I won an event held in China."

What makes the result notable beyond the scoreline is the style Lebrun brings to the table. Playing with a penholder grip and a reverse penhold backhand, he is a genuine outlier at the top of the modern game, where shakehand dominates. Winning a Champions-level event against a Chinese player in China with that style is no small thing.

The final was a meeting of two 19-year-olds, which tells you something about where the sport is heading. Lebrun, born September 12, 2006, had already knocked out Brazil's World Cup winner Hugo Calderano and Japan's Sora Matsushima to reach the final. Calderano is no soft draw at any level, and getting through him before facing a Chinese player in a Chinese arena underlines how complete Lebrun's tournament run was.

This was not Lebrun's first statement win. His singles titles table stretches back to the 2023 European Games in Krakow, where he beat Portugal's Marcos Freitas 4-3 for his first major individual crown. Since then he has added the 2023 WTT Contender Antalya over Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the 2024 WTT Star Contender Goa over Calderano again, and the 2024 WTT Champions Montpellier over Tomokazu Harimoto. The Chongqing title is his seventh senior singles championship, and his second at Champions level.

The table tennis runs deep in his family. His uncle, Christophe Legoût, was a French national team stalwart who won a silver medal at the 1997 World Table Tennis Championships and represented France at the 1996, 2000, and 2008 Olympics. His father Stéphane played professionally for Montpellier TT and Istres Tennis de Table, won the ETTU Cup twice, and even competed with sandpaper rackets at the 2013 World Ping-Pong Championship in London, reaching the last 16.

The women's final at Chongqing produced its own drama. Japan's 17-year-old Miwa Harimoto defeated China's Kuai Man 4-3 in a seven-game battle, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, avenging a 4-1 loss to Kuai at the Asian Cup in February. Kuai appeared to fade in the deciding set as Harimoto surged to a 3-0 lead with aggressive forehand attacks before closing it out.

With two teenage champions crowned on the same day in Chongqing, the tournament served as a clear marker of a generational shift at the top of the game.