FULL MATCH | Lin Yun-Ju vs Alexis Lebrun | MS R32 | #WTTMacao 2025

Between shoes and leg hair, I think it's pretty distinct. Cool, more please. What a way to start. Well, we got our first chop block in the first point. We've got a crazy rally here, a lot of speed. You asked me what I expected of Alexi after some time away. The thing is, you never know what you're going to get. I do think, I likened him to Troules in many ways. He's one of the most unconventional players, one of the most creative players, unpredictable players in the game. He's got a lot of power on the backhand side. He's good behind the table. Takes the ball real quickly, isn't afraid to slow it down. That said, it's Linru off to a good start on receive for two points. He makes it three with a serve still to come. Wow, don't see that happen too often. His first defensive shot, Alexi's, was way inside the baseline, which gives a lot of advantage to Linru and Roux, but Alexi never seemed flustered, just comfortable on the defense, fishes him down. If you told Alexi that was how he was going to win his first point of the match, I don't think he'd have necessarily believed you, but he's got it, he's on the board, and now there's another. Oh, perfection. Chopped me in the corner of that ball in this chop block. What, two of his three points so far? Well, not his points anyway, two of the six played, I should say. Yes, that Troules parallel already, coming in inventive. And there's power as well in his game, and aggression, which he channels more often than not in the right direction. Tsangwang Itse there on the bench, always a colorful character. Oh, model challenge attempted. Catches the edge on the near side of the table. It's one of his best serves, but Alexi putting that extra pressure on in the receive game. Oh, he didn't put him off, he went long and fast again there, and that stopped a little run of four points in a row for the Frenchman. Yeah, it might have been some time since we've seen Lin Wenru go super deep in a major event, but it's that backhand, that's his signature. You mentioned his coach just a moment ago, and as we always say, whenever Lin Wenru is playing, you're not going to hear anything out of him, but you'll hear plenty from the man behind him. He's the cheerleader, he's the one who makes the noise, he celebrates the points, Lin just gets on with playing the game. There's a delicacy and an elegance to Lin Wenru's play that's always easy on the eye, and we saw plenty of that there. If you were to count right now how many points Lin Wenru has won with this backhand inside the table, the wrist he generates, again, leads with the elbow, the very last, just watch his elbow, way out in front, and then the last thing to snap, the wrist, flick forward, he's so unpredictable, tough to deal with. Up, get ready for a windshield wiper. And he goes tomahawk instead, sets it up. It's always nice to have at least two different answers from a starting point to keep the receiver guessing, responding as late as possible. That backhand you spoke about, when you know you can execute as well as he can, that gives him the confidence to step into the table whenever he wants to, whenever he feels it's right. This is going to be the job of his opponent, Alexei, to bait him out, get him out of position. Compromise the quality on the other side when he can, or get him thinking the ball's going to come in over the forehand side of the table and serve deep and long to the backhand. It's always tough to find a practice partner who can give you the same quality on the shot. Well, he's probably annoyed with himself for reining in his attacking instincts, Alexei, there. He held back and... Chop block number three right there. Lin Yun-Ju does a wonderful job of keeping it aggressive. I think Alexei, in the little shadow practice after the point, was basically saying, I've got to add more underspin to my chop blocks to really load it, so he has to slow down more. We've been there before, Alexei, way back off the table. It doesn't work for him this time, and as a result, it's two game points for his opponent. Very memorable one earlier this time. He's lasered in, focused. Lin Yun-Ju just drives it, keeps him in the backhand. And few will be consistently able to win a point with the backhand from behind the table. Two game points now for the silent assassin. Just glances that one off the table. Stays in this. That's a handy backhand. Powerful, fast, has the length of the table to work with. Saves, well, saves a game point. Keeps him in this one, Alexei. This is as fast as can be. It's a blurry line to some where the table ends. If there's just enough room, this is a man, think about it, he just got out of his, what, second surgery to repair his hand from hitting the table in a different way. Oh, that's a beautiful recovery from Lin Yun-Ju. He was completely hung out to dry after the start this serve. He was going the wrong way. He went in, just exactly what I described before. Get him thinking. It's short to the forehand and served deep to the backhand and still, Lin Yun-Ju set up a game point. Credit to him. He set himself a game point with a fabulous scramble. Oh, and big moments. Probably enough today we've seen a lot of that in key moments. Little fun fact for you here. Whoever wins this will be playing a lower world rank player in the next round no matter what. Isn't that fascinating? It's a rare occasion. That is. But you progress. On paper it gets easier. That's right. He showed some flashes of brilliance here at times, Alexi. Much as you said earlier on when you analyzed his game, the flair, the skill, the unpredictability, it's all there. I love it. Off the net, volleys it right back into play. I think the words rabid and dog combined are strong, but I think it might be an understatement for the amount of passion and hunger Alexi has to be back in the game. Think about it. He's a young player. He's the younger of the two. 22 years old on a quick rise for the last few years. Him and his brother have just been astronomically getting better. And then he's out for a few major events. And here he is back in action as the only LeBron here. Yeah, Felix is in camp with the French players right now. Alexi is here looking to, in his words, when he spoke to us earlier on, just win. Wants to get back to winning ways. And as you rightly said, just wants to play. And this last point got into windshield wiping ways. First time we've seen it this match. Or the lollipop if you prefer, but good occasion to go windshield wiper, I guess. And just going back to what you said about the next round, of course we're talking about the winner of this one taking on either Simon Gauzy or the Macanese wildcard, Ho-Chun Fai in the round of 16. It's finally getting a lot harder in this game, Alexi. It was very tight, nip and tuck in the first, but Leroux's really been in charge throughout this one. It's a nice move here. He's a little bit late to get in, but as soon as he does, Alexi quickly goes deep to the backhand. He accomplished two things in one moment with that. But he trails by six. Smile of appreciation from Coach Wong there. When you've been away from the game as long as Alexi has, there will be aspects that will be rusty. His serve's not terrible, just below 50%, but look at this. That's a successful rate of 70.5%, which is just nuts up with him. And it gives him seven game points for two games in a row. This serve was nasty. Slow and off speed is low and awkward. Okay, so Mima can carry on warming up. You never know. Or in short, yes. That's two for Alexi. That's more like it. Good change of pace. This is a big part of his game, change of pace, breaking rhythm, different trajectory on the shot. He slows this one down and arcs it to keep it uncomfortable. Again, the placement had to be just right so that Lin Yun-Ju couldn't turn for a forehand counter. That's where he's found it a little bit harder. So the strawberry side spin there, deep, and Lin Yun-Ju, the perfect read, goes low into the middle. Oh, well now. This is when you want to have a doorbell that sort of has a machine recording there because nobody's home, but you just can't let him walk in like that. You know, just before that last one, I was going to say, he's not the most demonstrative of players, but he let his racket do the talking for him there. A real show of emotion from his coach after this point as well. And just think back to a few years ago and how much muscle Lin Yun-Ju has put on. He's worked really hard to bulk up, and it's paid off. And look at the momentum he's got. 12 out of the last 16 points going to the man from Chinese Taipei. Again, flummoxed by the serve. The timeout here. The man with the service percentages, you can see how much pressure it's putting, how few options it's leaving for the opponent. He just cannot make any inroads here, Alexi LeBrun. I was just thinking about how interesting it is, how differently people can behave and express themselves, but still be fighting for the exact same goal. When you think of Lin Yun-Ju, you don't think testosterone, you don't think alpha male. Yet he's working so hard to be one of the best in the world, and he is. And look how clever he is. That was twice in a row Alexi tried to catch him out with that service. He got to both of them, dropped one point, but won the second. I think to me it just reminds me that the hard work that goes on behind closed doors is more important than necessarily expressing it personality-wise on the table. You've said many times, he lets the racket do the talking. Lin Yun-Ju, on top of every bounce, the silent assassin delivers a very clear yet quiet message. That message is well received. On the other side, it's just tough to have much to show at this point. A long way to go for Alexi LeBrun. You saw a big personality on show there, that's for sure. Now he's very nearly home in this one. A couple of points away now, Lin Yun-Ju, and he has been so impressive here. Just a little reminder from Alexi, that you don't take too many liberties. But he has no answer. Win a point, and this guy comes straight back at you. Six match points for a place in the round of 16. Not yet, monsieur. He has to wait ten-five, though. Soft hands there on the receive to save one match point, but five more to go for the silent assassin. That was such a Limuru thing. Some would have smashed it and gone for the glory, but he didn't, he just kept the ball in play. Interesting. Yeah, it was definitely delicate, which I know you brought up earlier. But that is that now. Finally, the LeBrun resistance breaks, and it is a really impressive win in a potentially difficult...