What changed at the WTT Europe Smash
The 2026 WTT Europe Smash Sweden concluded in Malmö with China collecting two titles — women's singles and mixed doubles — while France's Felix Lebrun lifted the men's singles trophy. China's Wang Manyu defeated compatriot Wang Yidi 4–2 in the women's singles final, adding the Europe Smash crown to her 2025 World Championships women's doubles title with Kuai Man.
The women's singles final
Wang Manyu, the top seed, took control early in the final and held off Wang Yidi's fightback to seal a 4–2 win in a six-game contest. Speaking after the match, Wang Manyu said she was "very happy to win the title," describing the final as "very tight" and adding that she would "quickly turn my attention to the training and competitions ahead." Earlier in the day, Wang Manyu had swept Kuai Man 4–0 in the semifinals, while Wang Yidi beat Japan's Miwa Harimoto 4–2, setting up the all-Chinese final. The two Chinese women who reached the semifinals bookended a tournament in which Wang Manyu said her focus and confidence helped her overcome challenges across the week.
China's mixed doubles success and doubles exits
China also won the mixed doubles title through Lin Shidong and Kuai Man, giving the delegation a second trophy from Malmö. The men's and women's doubles results were less favorable: Lin Shidong and Wen Ruibo were eliminated in the men's doubles quarterfinals by eventual champions Alexis and Felix Lebrun, while Wang Manyu and Kuai Man — the reigning women's doubles world champions — lost their second WTT match in nearly two years to Hong Kong's Doo Hoi-kem and Pedrey Ng Wing-lam at the same stage. In women's doubles, Chen Yi and Wang Yidi were knocked out in the last eight by Japan's Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata.
The men's singles and Chinese men's team struggles
France's Felix Lebrun never trailed across the week, dropping only three games in six wins (3–1, 3–0, 3–0, 4–1, 4–0, 4–1) before beating Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto 4–1 in the men's singles final. Harimoto had fought back to edge fellow Japanese player Sora Matsushima 4–3 in the semifinals, while Lebrun swept Slovenia's Darko Jorgic 4–0 in the other semifinal. In the men's singles round of 16, all six Chinese entrants were eliminated — Lin Shidong, now ranked world No. 6, fell 3–2 to Alexis Lebrun and said afterward that he had been "a little hesitant" on both attack and receive. The men's singles showing extended a run in which Chinese men have failed to reach the singles quarterfinals at three straight WTT events — the United States Smash and Champions Yokohama earlier in the season preceded the Europe Smash setback — and the men have not won a WTT title since Wen Ruibo's success at the Taiyuan Contender in April.
What remains uncertain
Doubles form remains a question for China heading into the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, in which men's and women's doubles return to the program for the first time since 2004. The Europe Smash men's and women's doubles quarterfinal exits followed the Hangzhou Asian Games, where no Chinese women's doubles pair reached the semifinals, and the 2025 Doha World Championships, where all Chinese men's doubles pairs were eliminated by the last eight. The next confirmed measurement point on the calendar was not specified in the available reporting.
Share this article
