A first individual European title, a double and a fraternal revenge. Slightly in the shadow of his younger brother Félix during the Olympic Games, Alexis recalled who was older this week in Linz, Austria. The 21-year-old from Montpellier dominated the German Benedikt Duda, who defeated his brother in the quarter-finals the day before, to win his first European gold medal in singles this Sunday (11-5, 11-8, 11-6 , 11-2).
While Félix had lost his composure against him, Duda wandered off alone, taken aback by the consistency of the 19th player in the world, although much lower ranked than his brother (7th). Where the youngest Lebrun (18 years old) had relaxed at the start of the third set, Alexis won the first three points of this third round, just to send the message that there would be no question of the same comeback . The last act even felt like a slap in the face.
Perfect week
He went all the way to complete a perfect week on a personal and collective level. It’s difficult to dream of a more beautiful singles course. Only a final victory against his own brother would perhaps have enhanced the flavor of his little Austrian week. His success in the quarter-finals against Dang Qiu, defending champion and 13th player in the world (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6, 13-11), following the elimination of his brother, had given an insight into the determination of the Montpellier resident.
Olympic vice-champion Truls Moregard, world number 10, was also no match in the semi-final (12-10, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6). He was also doubly too light, because he was also defeated by Lebrun in the final of the doubles tournament (11-2, 11-6, 11-8). Alexis will thus have two gold medals to celebrate this Sunday evening. “I’m not going to party too much right away because I have my match in 30 minutes, but we’re going to enjoy this evening,” he warned before acquiring the second European title of his day.
