Kirill Gerassimenko as German "fear opponent"

Werder Bremen's table tennis pro Kirill Gerassimenko has become the "opponent of the year" for the German national players. Patrick Franziska from Bundesliga leaders 1. FC Saarbrücken was the third ace from Germany's top quartet within 31 days to be beaten by the Kazakh power-play player in the Champions League winners' point match against Bremen, 3:1. Gerassimenko won 3:2 against the World Championship bronze medallist in the doubles despite twice trailing in sets.

"He's simply been playing very, very well since the World Team Championships last month - including in our game. In the end, he had more staying power," said top 20 player Franziska in praise of his opponent in the SID interview. A week ago, "Franz" had defeated China's iconic Olympic champion and multiple world champion Ma Long at the Grand Smash in Singapore.

Gerassimenko's peak form had already been felt by other national players at the World Team Championships in Busan last February. Both European champion Dang Qiu and Franziska's World Championship doubles partner Dimitrij Ovtcharov lost their duels with the 27-year-old winner of the WTT feeder tournament in Corpus Christi at the start of the year in Germany's 3:2 preliminary round victory over Kazakhstan.

With a flawless overall record of nine wins, the Bremen native also recorded the best success rate of all World Championship players in South Korea - better even than the result of all Chinese title winners.

Only one German star has beaten Gerassimenko since the beginning of the year: Timo Boll. The right-hander lost to the 43-year-old from champions Borussia Düsseldorf 0:3 in four sets in his first match after the World Championships in Bremen at the end of February.

"I only need one more win against Timo in matches against the Germans. But he always comes up with something new against me," said Gerassimenko afterwards, but said combatively: "Maybe it will work next time."

However, the top 50 player has already secured his reputation as "Germany's opponent to fear" for the time being thanks to his success over Franziska.

Source: SID
Featured image above: Kirill Gerassimenko (Photo: SV Werder Bremen)