Hosts France cheered and danced as their favorite brothers led the men's table tennis team to a 3-0 victory over Slovenia and a place in the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
A joyful and tired 17-year-old Felix Lebrun, who won France its first table tennis medal since 2000 with a bronze in the men's singles on Sunday, had a rollercoaster ride.
But he managed to draw energy from an enthusiastic crowd and recovered from 2-1 down to beat Slovenia's Darko Jorgic 3-2.
"My focus was hard to maintain with all the matches and not sleeping well," said Lebrun. "It's not easy to play the perfect match. But in the end, I won. And I think under these circumstances, this is the most important thing."
His older brother, 20-year-old Alexis, secured two more French wins in singles and doubles with teammate Simon Gauzy.
It was not all good news for France though as the women's team was knocked out when Thailand's Jinnipa Sawettabut narrowly beat Charlotte Lutz in the deciding match.
Sawettabut won the final two points in the fifth game against the 19-year-old Lutz after it was level at 11-11, giving Thailand a 3-2 victory and a place in the quarterfinals.
Yuan Jia Nan won both her singles for the French, at the age of 39, and said she planned to go on competing.
Germany's men got past Canada thanks to a 3-0 victory, with veteran Timo Boll making his debut and winning his singles and doubles matches in his seventh Olympics before he retires.
"Sometimes it feels like some kind of fear because you want the last one to be nice and have a happy ending. But, on the other hand, I try just to enjoy," said 43-year-old Boll.
Alexandre Applause
Brazil, led by Hugo Calderano, who lost the men's singles bronze-medal match to Lebrun, also battled fiercely for a spot in the quarterfinals and overcome Portugal 3-1.
Brazil's women's team, including Bruna Alexandre were beaten 3-1 by South Korea. Alexandre won applause from the crowd as she played in the doubles and singles matches with one-arm.
The Chinese women's team, featuring newly-crowned singles champion Chen Meng and mixed doubles gold medalist Sun Yingsha, as well as world number two Wang Manyu, easily defeated Egypt.
The North African country's men's team also suffered a 3-0 loss to Taiwan earlier on Monday.
Japan's men's and women's teams cruised into the quarter-finals with 3-0 wins over Australia and Poland respectively.
Sweden's sleep-deprived Truls Moregard won a tense match against Denmark's Anders Lind to help her country beat their neighbors 3-0 and reach the last eight.
Moregard, who won silver in the singles, split the first two games with Lind. After trailing in the third he leveled at 11-11 but lost it 13-11. Exhausted, Moregard did not lift his head for a minute after an extended rally.
However, he recovered, gained momentum and made a comeback to win the next two games 11-5 11-9 and triumph 3-2.
Moregard, who celebrated his silver with a small family dinner, said he was tired after a hectic week in which he became the first Swede to get on the podium in table tennis since 2000.
In another close match, India beat Romania 3-2. The Romanians fought back after losing the first two matches but Adina Diaconu could not overcome Manika Batra in the deciding match, sending the Indians into the quarterfinals.