Mainz secures second win of the season against Saarbrücken
On the 12th matchday of the season, 1. FSV Mainz 05 kicked off the second half of the season against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT. The Mainz team managed a 3:1 win, which puts them on level with Fulda in the relegation duel.
After TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, their direct rivals in the relegation duel, had already won against TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt last week, giving them their second victory of the season, the Mainz team were under pressure to make their move. This was no easy task against former Mainz player Yuto Muramatsu and his team from Saarbrücken at the start of the second half of the season.
"Not so much resistance" from Meissner
In the first singles match of the day, Li took to the table for Mainz, who has recently shown more and more what he is capable of and was once again seeded in the number one position. Li started the match well and was able to put Mainz in the lead with a very clear 3:0 (11:9, 11:7, 11:5).
Meissner said in an interview afterwards: "I wasn't really good today and wasn't able to put up much resistance, but Li did really well today. So it was a relatively easy 3:0 for him."
Mladenovic wins against ex-Mainzer Muramatsu
After Cedric Nuytinck levelled the score at 1:1 by beating Carlo Rossi in the second game, the two material players Mladenovic and Muramatsu, who knew each other only too well from last season when Muramatsu was still playing in Mainz kit, faced off.
"I was so keen to play against Yuto. Last year, we trained together before every game and I had a 1:38 record. But I knew that I had a chance if I played at my best," said Mladenovic.
And he was indeed able to call up this top form in his match: Mladenovic won the first two sets, lost the third set very heavily by 2:11 and then, after tactical changes, earned Mainz its second point of the day. He defeated his former team-mate 3:1 (11:8, 11:9, 2:11, 11:5).
Li also wins his second singles match and leads Mainz to victory
The sets between Li and Nuytinck were very close at 13:11, 10:12, 14:12 and 11:8, but the Mainz player once again held his nerve in the extra sets and led 1. FSV Mainz 05 to their second win of the season with a 3:1 victory over Nuytinck. "Mentally and in terms of play, Leo was simply strong!" said Mladenovic, praising him after the match.
As a result, 1. FSV Mainz 05 was able to collect two important points in the relegation duel and is now on 4:18 points, just like TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell.
There will now be a two-week break before the Bundesliga (TTBL) resumes on 25 January with the 13th matchday and the game between Post SV Mühlhausen and TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt.
Overview of the 12th matchday
1.FSV Mainz 05 – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 3:1
Yongyin Li – Cedric Meissner 3:0 (11:9, 11:7, 11:5)
Carlo Rossi – Cedric Nuytinck 1:3 (11:3, 9:11, 6:11, 7:11)
Luka Mladenovic – Yuto Muramatsu 3:1 (11:8, 11:9, 2:11, 11:5)
Yongyin Li – Cedric Nuytinck 3:1 (13:11, 10:12, 14:12, 11:8)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – Post SV Mühlhausen 3:1
Simon Gauzy – Daniel Habesohn 3:0 (11:8, 11:6, 11:9)
Samuel Kulczycki – Steffen Mengel 3:1 (13:11, 11:7, 8:11, 11:7)
Alvaro Robles – Ovidiu Ionescu 2:3 (8:11, 11:13, 20:18, 11:8, 4:11)
Simon Gauzy – Steffen Mengel 3:0 (11:8, 11:7, 12:10)
TSV Bad Königshofen – SV Werder Bremen 3:0
Jin Ueda – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:0 (11:9, 11:7, 11:6)
Filip Zeljko – Mattias Falck 3:2 (6:11, 11:6, 9:11, 11:7, 11:6)
Bastian Steger – Marcelo Aguirre 3:0 (11:9, 11:9, 11:7)
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3:1
Chih-Yuan Chuang – Benedikt Duda 0:3 (8:11, 3:11, 7:11)
Fanbo Meng – Romain Ruiz 3:2 (4:11, 10:12, 11:6, 11:9, 12:10)
Ruwen Filus – Adrien Rassenfosse 3:1 (11:9, 14:12, 4:11, 11:6)
Chih-Yuan Chuang – Romain Ruiz 3:2 (7:11, 11:9, 6:11, 11:8, 11:4)
ASV Grünwettersbach – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 2:3
Tiago Apolonia – Samuel Walker 0:3 (2:11, 9:11, 7:11)
Deni Kozul – Feng Yi-Hsin 2:3 (4:11, 11:7, 11:9, 4:11, 4:11)
Ricardo Walther – Maciej Kubik 3:2 (14:11, 9:11, 11:7, 7:11, 11:7)
Tiago Apolonia – Feng Yi-Hsin 3:2 (11:6, 6:11, 7:11, 11:9, 11:8)
Deni Kozul/Ricardo Walther – Maciej Kubik/Samuel Walker 2:3 (17:15, 11:6, 8:11, 8:11, 8:11)
Featured image above: Yongyin Li from 1.FSV Mainz 05 (Photo: Mainz 05)