(by Steve Hopkins)

World No. 1 Lin Shidong has pressed through to the Semifinals of the WTT Champions Series Event in Montpellier with relative ease.  Shidong has been on a roll – with wins that clearly make him the best player since the Olympics this Summer.  However, France’s young star stopped him in his tracks this weekend, pushing past two close games to fly through to the Finals with a 4-0 win.

In the other half of the draw, it was Tomokazu Harimoto who needed all 7 games to stop Benedikt Duda’s epic run of upsets.  Duda’s early tournament wins included both Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun – single-handedly taking out half of the Chinese team’s entrants.  But Duda’s run ended in the seventh game with Harimoto moving on.

In the Final, Felix Lebrun thrived in front of his hometown fans running off three straight wins before dropping a game.  But he closed out the match in the next game, winning 4-1 and taking the title.

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