European Championships | 19 Oct 2024

Top Favorites Face Early Exits at the LIEBHERR European Championships

Germany's Benedikt DUDA delivered a stunning upset by defeating top seed Felix LEBRUN of France to secure his first-ever singles medal at the LIEBHERR European Championships in Linz. In another shocking turn of events, Alexis LEBRUN took down reigning European champion Dang QIU.

In a breathtaking quarterfinal clash, Felix LEBRUN held a 3-1 lead and even had a match point, but DUDA turned the match around in dramatic fashion.

"When I won the match point, the emotions surged. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had just secured my first European Championship medal in singles. Felix dominated many games, and it wasn’t until the third game that I started to get into it. Coach Lars HIELSCHER told me to stay focused—he would eventually make some easy mistakes and poor decisions. On his match point, it was a good decision not to flip to the middle but to his forehand instead. This is my biggest international success. A European Championship is something special because you're also representing Germany. I’ve always worked hard for this, and now I’ve made it. The crowd was amazing; I heard the 'Duda, Duda' chants, and that gave me the final push. Tomorrow, I will approach the game the same way as today. Whether it's against FRANZISKA or OVTCHAROV, it will be just as tough as against FELIX. I’ll fight for every point, and then we’ll see who represents Germany in the final," said DUDA.

For the 30-year-old left-hander, who was runner-up at the 2022 Team World Championships and a two-time European team champion, reaching the European Championship semifinals is the greatest individual achievement of his career so far.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the match, FELIX struck the LED boards on the show court, resulting in his disqualification from the singles competition. However, this will not affect his doubles match tomorrow.

"I was emotional. I am aware that it is not good, and I won’t do anything similar next year," said FELIX. "I had the lead many times, but he kept coming after me. It was very difficult."

Photo: Rémy Gros

Reigning champion Dang QIU faced an early exit at the hands of Alexis LEBRUN.

"It’s an amazing feeling. I beat QIU at the European Games, but it’s something special to do it at the European Championships, where he was defending his title. I raised my game to the highest level, and I’m so happy to be in the semis. DANG’s serve is very difficult to manage, so I was under pressure at the beginning of the match," said LEBRUN.

Photo: Rémy Gros

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV achieved an impressive win in the all-German quarterfinal against Patrick FRANZISKA. OVTCHAROV didn’t drop a single game against his World Championship bronze-medal-winning doubles partner from Durban.

"That was one of the best matches I’ve played in recent years. I felt like I responded to every strong shot from him with precision and made no mistakes," said the former world No. 1 and two-time European singles champion.

On Sunday, OVTCHAROV and DUDA will face off.

Photo: Rémy Gros

Truls MOREGARD beat Anton KÄLLBERG in an all-Swedish duel.

"This win obviously means a lot. But at the same time, it was a tough match to play and win, from several perspectives. I'm happy with how I managed to handle the difficult situations. Anton changed his game in an amazing way and won two easy games. Part of his tactic was probably to get me to attack on my own terms. And in those two games, I missed a lot of opportunities. Then I started to play better and more tactically smart after it was 2-2. It was good that I dared to do that,” said Truls.

In the Round of 16, the biggest upset came when KÄLLBERG defeated No. 5 seed Darko JORGIC of Slovenia in a thrilling seven-game match. Top seed Felix LEBRUN overcame Andre BERTELSMEIER of Germany, and No. 2 seed MOREGARD beat Thibault PORET of France. Alexis LEBRUN defeated Milosz REDZIMSKI in straight games, and in similar fashion, Benedikt DUDA triumphed over Juan PÉREZ of Spain, while Dang QIU beat Álvaro ROBLES of Spain.

OVTCHAROV overcame Marcos FREITAS of Portugal, and FRANZISKA succeeded against Andrej GACINA of Croatia.

Quarterfinals

Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) – Truls MOREGARD (Sweden) 2-4 (5-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 7-11, 15-17)

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) – Patrick FRANZISKA (Germany) 4-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8)

Dang QIU (Germany) – Alexis LEBRUN (France) (7-11, 9-11, 8-11, 6-11, 11-13)