Video: World Table Tennis via YouTube

France's Simon Gauzy produced the shock of the opening round at WTT Champions Montpellier on 28 October, beating world No.3 Tomokazu Harimoto 3-0 in front of a home crowd.

Gauzy won a long first game 15-13 and then took the next two to win in straight games. It was a big result for the Toulouse player, the French federation said, and it came only three days after Harimoto had won the men's singles at the Asian Championships in Tashkent.

It was a mixed evening for the hosts. Alexis Lebrun won his first two games against Germany's Patrick Franziska 11-9, 11-4, but Franziska took the third 14-12 and won the decider 11-9. Earlier, Flavien Coton led South Korea's Jang Woojin by two games before losing 11-9 in the fifth. Both of the men who beat them went on to reach the final.

The next day it was Japan's turn to suffer. Vladimir Sidorenko, who had beaten Slovenia's Darko Jorgic 3-1 in round one, beat world No.1 Sora Matsushima 3-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6) in the round of 16. Defending champion Truls Moregard also knocked out Shunsuke Togami 3-1, so Japan's top three men were all out before the quarter-finals.

Harimoto recovered quickly. A week later he won WTT Champions Frankfurt.

Kit corner

Andro lists Gauzy with a Synteliac VCI blade (we stock the Gauzy Edition) and NUZN 55 on both sides. Harimoto plays Butterfly Zyre 03 on forehand and backhand, and Alexis Lebrun uses his Krypto Carbon.

Sources: FFTT, 28 Oct 2026 · tennis2table.com · PingSunday, 29 Oct 2026 · Flashscore.fr · andro: Simon Gauzy · Butterfly: Tomokazu Harimoto