Hard-fought success for Post SV Mühlhausen
The basement duel of the second to last against the last in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) was won by Post SV Mühlhausen after a hard-fought match with 3:2 against 1. FSV Mainz 05. The Thuringians therefore scored the first two points on the third match day.
Both clubs had lost their first two games and were looking for their first win of the season against their table neighbors. Post SV Mühlhausen started the match in promising fashion and quickly took the lead through Steffen Mengel. The 34-year-old played at position one for the first time in the still young season of the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL); in the first two matches Mengel had started at position three. The German singles champion of 2013 used his second match point after just under 20 minutes and clearly defeated Luka Mladenovic 3:0 (11:8, 11:9, 15:13).
Then it was time for the duel of the generations. Mühlhausen's Daniel Habesohn is ten years older than Yuto Muramatsu from 1. FSV Mainz 05, but the Austrian still won the first set. Then the Japanese player turned up the heat, won the next two sets, but surrendered the fourth despite a match point of his own. In the fifth, it was Habesohn's turn again, taking a 7-0 lead, winning the set and with it the match 3-2 (11-8, 5-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6).
"In the fifth set, the key was that Daniel varied the first ball," Mühlhausen coach Erik Schreyer said. "Muramatsu then made a lot of easy errors on the first ball and Daniel solved that really well with his class and experience. That it will be a tough match against Mainz, we knew from the beginning, because they play for the first time this season in their best lineup."
Ovidiu Ionescu and Kim Taehyun get decisive point
However, Post SV Mühlhausen gave away the 2:0 lead. Ovidiu Ionescu won the first set against Andrei Putuntica, but was defeated 1:3 (11:7, 13:15, 6:11, 8:11). Steffen Mengel also lost the match. Against Yuto Muramatsu the score was 1:3 after four sets (0:11, 11:7, 10:12, 9:11). The team from Mainz had equalized and forced the doubles match, which was hardly thought possible. However, Mulhouse won 3:1 (11:7, 6:11, 11:8, 11:7) and secured two hard-fought points.
Steffen Mengel was happy about the success of his Mühlhausen team. "We got into the match well at the beginning and I am glad that I won my match against Mladenovic," he said after the match. "Against Muramatsu I made too many mistakes in the first set and lost 0:11. I haven't experienced that like that either. Then in the doubles, anything could happen. Ovidiu and Kim adjusted well to Mainz and won."
Post SV Mühlhausen – 1. FSV Mainz 05 3:2 Steffen Mengel – Luka Mladenovic 3:0 (11:8, 11:9, 15:13)
Daniel Habesohn – Yuto Muramatsu 3:2 (11:8, 5:11, 6:11, 12:10, 11:6)
Ovidiu Ionescu – Andrei Putuntica 1:3 (11:7, 13:15, 6:11, 8:11)
Steffen Mengel – Yuto Muramatsu 1:3 (0:11, 11:7, 10:12, 9:11)
Ovidiu Ionescu/Kim Taehyun – Luka Mladenovic/Carlo Rossi 3:1 (11:7, 6:11, 11:8, 11:7)
TTC Neu-Ulm – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 3:1 Truls Moregardh – Samuel Walker 3:1 (12:14, 11:7, 11:8, 11:7)
Maksim Grebnev – Patrick Baum 1:3 (11:6, 7:11, 8:11, 10:12)
Vladimir Sidorenko – Yi-Hsin Feng 3:0 (11:7, 11:9, 16:14)
Truls Moregardh – Patrick Baum 3:0 (11:8, 11:6, 11:5)
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 0:3
Alexandre Cassin – Cedric Nuytinck 2:3 (11:8, 4:11, 10:12, 11:9, 6:11)
Fan Bo Meng – Patrick Franziska 0:3 (6:11, 6:11, 10:12)
Quadri Aruna – Takuya Jin 1:3 (6:11, 4:11, 11:1, 9:11)
TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 1:3
Benedikt Duda - Samuel Kulczycki 3:2 (9:11, 13:11, 8:11, 11:3, 11:4)
Alberto Mino – Simon Gauzy 0:3 (10:12, 9:11, 5:11)
Romain Ruiz – Alvaro Robles 1:3 (14:12, 10:12, 10:12, 5:11)
Bendedikt Duda – Simon Gauzy 0:3 (9:11, 5:11, 7:11)
TSV Bad Königshofen – ASV Grünwettersbach 3:2 Yukiya Uda – Xi Wang 0:3 (17:19, 8:11, 6:11)
Kilian Ort – Tiago Apolonia 0:3 (11:13, 5:11, 10:12)
Filip Zeljko – Ricardo Walther 3:2 (9:11, 11:9, 13:15, 11:8, 11:8)
Yukiya Uda – Tiago Apolonia 3:1 (8:11, 11:8, 11:9, 11:6)
Kilian Ort/Martin Allegro – Xi Wang/Ricardo Walther 3:0 (11:8, 11:8, 11:4)
Borussia Düsseldorf – SV Werder Bremen 3:0 Anton Källberg – Marcelo Aguirre 3:1 (11:8, 11:8, 10:12, 11:7)
Kay Stumper – Mattias Falck 3:0 (11:5, 11:6, 11:9)
Dang Qiu – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:2 (7:11, 10:12, 11:9, 14:12, 13:11)