Bremen beats Neu-Ulm and secures 5th place
SV Werder Bremen won the top match against TTC Neu-Ulm and thus consolidated the 5th place in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). At the start of the 9th matchday, the Hanseatic team won 3:1 on Friday.
In the third attempt SV Werder Bremen managed to win a top match of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). After losing 3-2 to TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen and then to 1. FC Saarbrücken TT in the last two weeks, the 5th-placed team won 3-1 against TTC Neu-Ulm on Friday evening to kick off Matchday 9. With 10:8 points, Bremen remain in 5th place behind Ochsenhausen (10:6), who will play TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau on Monday. Neu-Ulm is still in 3rd place with 12:6 points.
"It was a very, very strong performance from our team," Bremen's Kirill Gerassimenko said after the game, adding with a view to a possible play-off appearance, "We have a good chance so far this season to make it into the play-offs. Now there are two games left in the year, and in those we will give it our all once again." New Ulm's Lev Katsman said, "We had a chance to go 2-2 and get the double, but unfortunately it didn't work out. Overall, we have to acknowledge that Bremen was better today and deserved to win."
Gerassimenko beats Katsman and Sidorenko
Only in September the cup round of 16 between the two teams had gone to Neu-Ulm with 3:0 - at that time, however, the TTC had entered with Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Truls Moregardh among others. This time, the Swabians relied on the Russian talents Vladimir Sidorenko, Lev Katsman and Maksim Grebnev, so Werder went into the match as favorites. And the hosts lived up to this expectation: Kirill Gerassimenko, who was nominated at position one, first beat Katsman 3:1 (11:6, 11:9, 7:11, 11:9); about two hours later, he fended off two set points in the top singles and thus Sidorenko's chase to catch up, in order to win the decisive point a little later with a 3:1 (8:11, 11:8, 13:11, 11:6). On position three Mattias Falck was also successful with 3:0 (11:8, 11:8, 11:8) against Grebnev. The only victory of Neu-Ulm went to the account of Sidorenko, who defeated Cristian Pletea with 3:2 (11:7, 10:12, 11:6, 9:11, 11:5).
The next match for TTC Neu-Ulm is next Tuesday, December 13, in the Champions League in Poland at K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo. With a repeat of the first leg success, the team of coach Dmitrij Mazunov would make the semi-final entry perfect. SV Werder Bremen is back in action on Sunday, December 18, when it plays an away match at TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt as part of the 10th TTBL matchday.
In the table tennis Bundesliga, the action continues tomorrow, Saturday, December 10, when TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell hosts TSV Bad Königshofen from 5 p.m. onwards. The other matches of Matchday 9, including the summit clash between Borussia Düsseldorf and 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, will take place on the following Sunday and Monday. All TTBL matches will be broadcast live on Spontent's channels on Twitch.
The 9th matchday in overview
SV Werder Bremen – TTC Neu-Ulm 3:1
Kirill Gerassimenko – Lev Katsman 3:1 (11:6, 11:9, 7:11, 11:9)
Cristian Pletea – Vladimir Sidorenko 2:3 (7:11, 12:10, 6:11, 11:9, 5:11)
Mattias Falck – Maksim Grebnev 3:0 (11:8, 11:8, 11:8)
Kirill Gerassimenko – Vladimir Sidorenko 3:1 (8:11, 11:8, 13:11, 11:6)
Saturday, December 10
5 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TSV Bad Königshofen
Sunday, December 11
1 p.m.: 1. FSV Mainz 05 – ASV Grünwettersbach
2 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
4 p.m.: Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
Monday, December 12
7 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen