Borussia Düsseldorf gets revenge in Bad Homburg and defends its lead in the table
On the ninth match day of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL), TTC OE Bad Homburg welcomed Borussia Düsseldorf for the second time in five days. While Bad Homburg caused a sensation last Tuesday by knocking the record cup winners out of the cup early on, Borussia now got their revenge in the league with a deserved away win.
Revenge successful – Düsseldorf's reaction
It was clear from the outset that Düsseldorf were not going to take their cup exit lying down. “We tried everything on Tuesday and fought hard, and then we thought about what we could have done better,” explained Anton Källberg. Ultimately, today's game was “not easy,” Källberg continued, but the team was very happy about the victory.
Borussia manager Andreas Preuß also summed up the missed cup Final Four clearly: “This isn't just any defeat, it's the road to the cup Final Four. We didn't make it this time, and that was our goal for the season.” With the victory in Bad Homburg, Düsseldorf defended its lead in the table – an important step after the disappointment earlier in the week.
Bad Homburg once again got off to the better start
Düsseldorf played without Dang Qiu. The German national player was unable to travel to Bad Homburg due to injury. In contrast to their quarterfinal appearance, the hosts fielded Jo Yokotani, Benno Oehme, and Juan Perez in the singles.
Yokotani caused a stir right from the start of the opening match: with bold offensive play, he defeated Yongyin Li and gave his team a 1-0 lead. Oehme then seemed well on his way to continuing the cup story. He took a 2-0 lead against Kanak Jha, but Jha changed his game, capitalized on more mistakes by Oehme, and won the deciding set 11-5. The score was 1-1 at the break.
Düsseldorf turns the match around – Källberg and Jha seal the deal
After the break, Källberg faced Juan Perez. The Spaniard started strongly and took the first set 11-8, but Källberg remained calm, found his way into the match and turned it around to make it 2-1 for Borussia.
In the final duel, Jha faced Yokotani. Jha continued his comeback from his first singles match against Oehme and dominated the first two sets with high speed and variable topspins. Yokotani reduced the deficit to 1:2, but Jha didn't let anything slip in the fourth set. Borussia Düsseldorf celebrated a successful revenge and defended their place at the top of the table with a 3:1 victory.
Düsseldorf remains at the top of the table – Bad Homburg in 9th place
With this victory, Düsseldorf extends its lead over Ochsenhausen and Saarbrücken and remains level on points with Bremen. After missing out on the Cup Final Four, the team is now regaining its confidence.
Bad Homburg remains in 9th place in the table and faces an important match in the battle against relegation on match day 10 at Borussia Dortmund. Düsseldorf welcomes Mühlhausen, who also lost 2-3 to Ochsenhausen in the cup last Wednesday.
The 9th match day at a glance
SV Werder Bremen – Borussia Dortmund 3:0
Kirill Gerassimenko – Alberto Mino 3:2 (11:9, 11:8, 9:11, 6:11, 11:9)
Irvin Bertrand – Adam Szudi 3:0 (11:8, 11:9, 11:7)
Mattias Falck – Cedric Nuytinck 3:2 (8:11, 13:11, 9:11, 11:6, 11:7)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TSV Bad Königshofen 3:1
Shunsuke Togami – Filip Zeljko 3:0 (11:7, 11:6, 12:10)
Andreas Levenko – Daniel Habesohn 3:1 (11:3, 7:11, 11:5, 11:8)
Tiago Abiodun – Bastian Steger 1:3 (11:9, 7:11, 5:11, 7:11)
Shunsuke Togami – Daniel Habesohn 3:2 (11:5, 11:13, 11:8, 8:11, 11:5)
TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg – Borussia Düsseldorf 1:3
Jo Yokotani – Yongyin Li 3:0 (11:9, 11:5, 11:5)
Benno Oehme – Kanak Jha 2:3 (11:4, 11:9, 8:11, 3:11, 4:11)
Juan Perez – Anton Källberg 1:3 (11:8, 6:11, 4:11, 9:11)
Jo Yokotani – Kanak Jha 1:3 (7:11, 5:11, 11:5, 5:11)
Sunday, November 23
2 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – Post SV Mühlhausen
5 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
6 p.m.: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – ASC Grünwettersbach
Featured image above: Kanak Jha from Borussia Düsseldorf (Photo: Borussia Düsseldorf)