2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha: Sun Yingsha started her title defense journey with victory, and the Lebrun brothers got off to a good start

China's top seed in Women's Singles, Sun Yingsha, comfortably won her opening match in Doha on Saturday, 17 May to advance to the round of 64. Also victorious were the French Lebrun brothers, who excelled in their respective singles matches. The pair will begin their men's doubles event together on Sunday.

Sun Yingsha embarked on a journey to defend the women's singles title at the World Table Tennis Championships

Reigning Women's Singles World Champion and tournament top seed Sun Yingsha successfully advanced to the second round at the 2025 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships. The match was held on Saturday, May 17 at the Lusail Stadium in the north of Doha, Qatar, and Sun Yingsha defeated Ukraine's Veronica Matiunina 4-0.

Facing an opponent ranked 215 places lower than herself in the world, Sun Yingsha did not need to show her best condition, and still completed the promotion with an absolute advantage. The scores were 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, and they did not drop a single game in the whole game.

"I didn't know this opponent very well, I didn't know her in the first round until two or three days after I arrived in Doha because I had a bye in the draw," Sun said after the match. Hopefully, as the game progresses, I can get better and better. ”

Sun Yingsha will determine her next opponent after the round of 128 that continues on Sunday.

Third seed Chen Xingtong won comfortably in the first round against South Africa's Rochka Sundayi, 11-7, 11-4, 11-3, 11-1.

Men's Singles No.2 seed Wang Chuqin didn't face much of a challenge in the first round against the United States' Nandan Naresh and quickly won 4-0 to reach the second round. The scores in the four games were 11-6, 11-4, 11-2, 11-4.

The No. 5 seed and China's Liang Jingkun will face North Korea's Xian Yucheng in the first round. In the end, Liang Jingkun fought fiercely in five games and won 4-1.

Another Chinese player, Xue Fei, will face Japan's Daito Shinozuka in the first round. Xue Fei suddenly broke the line after winning two games in a row 11-9, and was chased by his opponent 13-11, 16-14, 14-12, 11-4 in four consecutive games, losing with a total score of 2-4.

French brothers Félix Lebrun and Alexis Lebrun also completed the first round of the men's singles on Saturday 17 May, with both advancing to the next round in straight games. They will also play together in the Men's Doubles event on Sunday.

The 17-year-old Felix is the sixth seed in the tournament and will face a tough first-round challenge against Slovak veteran Pište. The 41-year-old is a full 23 years older than Lebrun and has a lot of experience. However, experience was not able to withstand the onslaught of the youngsters in this contest at the Lusail Stadium, with Felix winning 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 and 11-8.

"It doesn't really matter how you win, it doesn't matter if it's 4-0, 4-1, 4-2, I'm just happy to win this game and advance to the second round," Felix said afterwards. ”

The match between his brother Alexis is scheduled for the evening at the Qatar University Stadium, another venue in Doha. After missing a month of training and competition due to a previous hand fracture, he was not confirmed to be eligible until Friday, and his form has been in the spotlight.

However, the match against Togo's Coku Fani did not pose much of a challenge for him, as Alexis dropped just 15 points to win comfortably 11-6, 11-2, 11-1, 11-6. Felix will next face India's Manush Shah in the second round, while Alexis will face Chinese Taipei.

In doubles, Men's Doubles No.3 seeds Lin Gaoyuan/Lin Shidong eliminated Italy's Rossi/Oyeber 3-0 with the scores of I1-5, 11-7, 11-7 in three games.

Men's Doubles No.9 seeds Huang Youzheng/Liang Jingkun beat Canada's Edward Lee/Simon Martin 3-0 11-4, 11-3, 11-6.

In Mixed Doubles, China's top seeds Lin Shidong/Kuo Man took on international duo Pitchford/Hershey, who won 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-8) to get off to a flying start and advance to the round of 32.