Bremen stays on top
SV Werder Bremen celebrated an important away win against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on the 17th matchday of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). Thanks to the 3-2 success, the Hanseatic League is still well in the race for the coveted play-off places.
With just one win, Bremen's second half of the season hasn't gone as planned so far. Most recently, the North Germans lost 3-0 to record champions Düsseldorf. The gap to the play-off places is still minimal, with 14:16 points the Hanseatic League is only behind the fourth-placed TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau (14:14) due to minus points. Bremen wanted to get back on the road to success against Mainz, who were leaving the league.
However, the hosts got off to a better start, and there was no sign of a lack of motivation or a drop in tension due to the firm withdrawal from the TTBL. Top player Yongyin Li fought an equal duel against Marcelo Aguirre, was not impressed by a 1:2 set deficit and used his second match point in the fifth round to make it 11:9.
Four set balls are not enough
Luka Mladenovic seamlessly continued his teammate's performance in the second singles of the evening, rewarded himself with a 1-0 set lead against Mattias Falck, but was unable to win the second round despite four set points. Bremen's 2023 European team champion was back in the game and used the momentum of winning the set with a quick 11:3 in the third round. Mladenovic caught himself in the fourth set, but ultimately had to congratulate the Swede on his victory.
The double brings the decision
Since both Kirill Gerassimenko against Carlo Rossi and Yongyin Lin against Mattias Falck scored confidently for their colors, the doubles had to bring the decision in the end. And here Kirill Gerassimenko and Christian Pletea, who was only featured in doubles today, proved to be the stronger ones. Bremen retained the upper hand in three sets against Carlo Rossi and Luka Mladenovic.
The voices for the game
Luka Mladenovic, 1. FSV Mainz 05: “I’m still looking for solutions against Mattia’s game system. In some situations I may wait too long for his mistakes. Of course I can't do that against players of his level. But who knows. If I win the second set, maybe the game will end differently.”
Mattias Falck, SV Werder Bremen: “It was the expected difficult game, like all games in the TTBL. Mainz is a good team. It took a big fight to win the game today. We now have four games left and each one is about reaching the play-offs. Of course, other teams want that too.”
Two games on Sunday
At the end of the 17th matchday in the TTBL on Sunday, March 3rd, TSV Bad Königshofen welcomes TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell (1 p.m.) and ASV Grünwettersbach record champions Borussia Düsseldorf (4 p.m.). All TTBL games will be broadcast live on Dyn.
Overview of the 16th matchday
1. FSV Mainz 05 – SV Werder Bremen 2:3
Yongyin Li - Marcelo Aguirre 3:2 (11:9, 7:11, 8:11, 11:5, 11:9)
Luka Mladenovic - Mattias Falck 1:3 (11:9, 14:16, 3:11, 9:11)
Carlo Rossi - Kirill Gerassimenko 0:3 (9:11, 4:11, 8:11)
Yongyin Li - Mattias Falck 3:1 (11:5, 9:11, 11:6, 11:6)
Mladenovic/Rossi - Pletea/Gerasimenko 0:3 (7:11, 9:11, 10:12)
Post SV Mühlhausen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 1:3
Steffen Mengel - Maciej Kubik 3:0 (11:5, 11:7, 11:7)
Ovidiu Ionescu - Yi-Hsin Feng 1:3 (7:11, 11:8, 6:11, 6:11)
Daniel Habesohn - Sanuel Walker 1:3 (10:12, 11:7, 11:13, 7:11)
Steffen Mengel - Yi-Hsin Feng 2:3 (6:11, 11:5, 12:10, 3:11, 6:11)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 0:3
Alvaro Robles – Patrick Franziska 1:3 (12:10, 7:11, 5:11, 7:11)
Simon Gauzy – Eduard Ionescu 2:3 (11:7, 11:13, 11:7, 9:11, 10:12)
Samuel Kulczycki – Yuto Muramatsu 0:3 (3:11, 6:11, 7:11)
Sunday March 3rd
1 p.m.: TSV Bad Königshofen – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell
4 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach – Borussia Düsseldorf
Featured image above: Mattias Falck from SV Werder Bremen (Photo: PingPongPhoto)