All good things come in four
Great relief in Mainz: After three defeats in the first three games of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL), promoted team 1. FSV Mainz 05 achieved the longed-for first victory. On the fourth matchday, the Rheinhessen team won 3:1 at TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.
Yuto Muramatsu was the match-winner for the visitors at his old home. The Japanese player played for Ochsenhausen from 2016 to 2018. Today, he almost single-handedly inflicted the first defeat of the season on his old employer. In his first singles match he defeated Alvaro Robles in five sets (11:13, 7:11, 12:10, 11:8, 6:11), before he lost 0:3 (8:11, 11:13, 7:11) to Ochsenhausen's top player Simon Gauzy. Speaking of Simon Gauzy: The Frenchman did not have his best day and lost in the first singles of the day in a close match also against Luka Mladenovic with 2:3 (6:11, 11:3, 11:9, 7:11, 9:11).
"We are a team to reckon with"
Tomasz Kasica, coach of the 05ers, was visibly relieved after the game: "I am totally overwhelmed. First and foremost, I'm happy for my team. They have simply earned this. We were already close last week. The can opener today was Luka, who played a sensational game against Simon. Now we've finally arrived in the league. We are a force to be reckoned with."
"Can opener" Luka Mladenovic, meanwhile, struggled to find the right words: "It's hard for me to find superlatives for the match against Simon. What pleases me most is that I stayed calm. It was a tough match with long rallies. I had to fight for every point. Yuto was world class today."
Ochsenhausen's coach Yong Fu saw a deserved winner in the guests from Mainz: "Mainz was simply very good today. Especially Yuto played on a very high level. And against the anti-top of Luka it is simply very unpleasant to play. But we'll keep our heads up."
World Cup break in the TTBL
On Monday, September 19, the 4th match day in the Table Tennis Bundesliga will come to an end with four matches: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, Borussia Düsseldorf - ASV Grünwettersbach, TTC Neu-Ulm - TSV Bad Königshofen and SV Werder Bremen - TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell. After that, the TTBL will go into a World Championship break lasting several weeks. The 56th World Team Championships will take place from September 30 to October 09 in Chengdu, China.
The 4th matchday in overview
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – 1. FSV Mainz 05 1:3
Simon Gauzy – Luka Mladenovic 2:3 (6:11, 11:3, 11:9, 7:11, 9:11)
Alvaro Robles – Yuto Muramatsu 2:3 (11:13, 7:11, 12:10, 11:8, 6:11)
Can Akkuzu – Andrei Putuntica 3:1 (11:3, 11:0, 9:11, 11:2)'
Simon Gauzy – Yuto Muramatsu 0:3 (8:11, 11:13, 7:11)
1. FC Saarbrücken TT – Post SV Mühlhausen 3:2
Darko Jorgic – Ovidiu Ionescu 3:0 (11:6, 11:9, 11:6)
Jin Takuya – Steffen Mengel 0:3 (6:11, 9:11, 9:11)
Tomas Polansky – Daniel Habesohn 1:3 (10:12, 11:9, 10:12, 7:11)
Darko Jorgic – Steffen Mengel 3:0 (11:4, 11:4, 11:7)
Nuytinck/Polansky – Ionescu/Kim 3:2 (6:11, 9:11, 11:9, 11:6, 11:9)
Monday, September 19
6.30 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
7 p.m.: Borussia Düsseldorf – ASV Grünwettersbach
7 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – TSV Bad Königshofen
7.30 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell