Matchday 15: Will the series of Ochsenhausen and Mühlhausen last?

With three wins each from three second-round matches, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen and Post SV Mühlhausen are heading for the play-offs in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). On matchday 15, Ochsenhausen will now host TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, while Mühlhausen will play TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell. Borussia Düsseldorf, meanwhile, is looking for revenge against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau.

SV Werder Bremen - TSV Bad Königshofen

A possibly trend-setting match will take place on Friday evening at SV Werder Bremen: The Hanseatic League has TSV Bad Königshofen as guests and thus the neighbor in the standings. While Werder is currently in sixth place with 14:14 points and four points behind the play-off places, the Lower Franconians (16:12) are one place better placed - a win would be correspondingly important for either team. "Our goal is to earn a positive points ratio with a win," said Werder manager Sascha Greber. "We will only succeed if we bring a strong performance to the table - Bad Königshofen will make life difficult for us." Both teams will be fielding a player who is still unbeaten in the second half of the season: Bremen's Mattias Falck has a 6-0 singles record in the second half of the season, while Bad Königshofen's Kilian Ort is 5-0.

ASV Grünwettersbach - TTC Neu-Ulm

ASV Grünwettersbach had hoped for a giant step towards staying in the class last Sunday, but finally had to accept a bitter defeat: Against Grenzau, Tiago Apolonia had the victory for his team already on the racket, but finally lost 2:3 against Feng Yi-Hsin and Grünwettersbach finally with the same result also the team match. The view is therefore directed downwards again: With 12:16 points, the Baden team is still four points ahead of the relegation zone. TTC Neu-Ulm, on the other hand, recently stopped the downward trend: after defeats in the doubles against Saarbrücken and Mühlhausen and a total of five defeats in a row, the Swabians won 3:0 against Fulda on Sunday, so that the points account (14:14) is now balanced again. The first leg on Matchday 1 had gone 3:1 to Neu-Ulm - at that time, however, the TTC had also used Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Truls Moregardh.

Borussia Düsseldorf - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau

"We are warned and still have a score to settle!", Andreas Preuß sends a fighting message to TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau. After all, Borussia Düsseldorf had surprisingly lost the first leg 3-2 in December, thus suffering its first defeat of the season. In the return match, the league leader would now like to take revenge, but has already turned its focus to a following task - in mid-February, Düsseldorf will finally meet Neu-Ulm in the semifinals of the Champions League (TTCLM). "But we take the Grenzau match very seriously," clarifies coach Danny Heister, who will rely on Timo Boll, Anton Källberg and Kay Stumper on Sunday. Grenzau, on the other hand, would appreciate a repeat of the first leg coup. Despite the recent success against Grünwettersbach, the Westerwälder are still in the relegation zone with 8:20 points, but have tenth place in their sights. "In this match, the starting position is always the same," notes TTC manager Markus Ströher. "Düsseldorf is the house-high favorite. And we'll try to annoy the record champions a little."

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell - Post SV Mühlhausen

For only the second time, Post SV Mühlhausen managed a success against Saarbrücken on the last matchday, which means that the counter now stands at three victories in a row. The team of coach Erik Schreyer has moved up to fourth place in the table and is well on the way to making the play-offs again - it would be the second time in the club's history. TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell was also among the top four last year, but is currently a long way from such a position. The East Hessians have only managed five victories, which is why they have added Wong Chun Ting to their roster for the second half of the season. Since last Sunday's 3-0 loss to Neu-Ulm, however, the team is only two points ahead of the relegation zone - so a win in the Hesse-Thuringia derby on Sunday would be correspondingly important.

1.FC Saarbrücken TT - 1. FSV Mainz 05

For 1. FSV Mainz 05, the situation in the bottom of the table is getting more and more threatening: While the competition has scored recently - for example Grenzau with 3:2 against Grünwettersbach - the Rheinhessen team is still without success in this calendar year and is on the last place in the table with 4:24 points. A look at the upcoming tasks is no mood booster either: On Monday evening, the team faces 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, followed by games against Düsseldorf and Mulhouse, among others. Saarbrücken recently lost 3-1 in Mühlhausen and consequently fell back to third place in the table. However, with 20:8 points, FCS is still on course for the play-offs and has a two-point lead over Mühlhausen (18:10) and four over fifth-placed Bad Königshofen (16:12).

TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

For the first time since 2015, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen missed out on participation in the play-offs last season. In the current season, the four-time German champion is now on the verge of returning to the knockout round. Ochsenhausen has won eight of the last nine matches, and the TTF are still unbeaten in the second round. Last Sunday, they won 3:2 in Bad Königshofen, which helped Simon Gauzy and Co. climb to second place in the table and extend their lead over fifth place to four points. Completely different thoughts drive against it the responsible persons of the coming opponent around: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt has been in the bottom half of the table since Matchday 5 and is now dangerously close to the relegation zone. Currently, the team around Benedikt Duda is only separated by the better match ratio from Grenzau, which has 8:20 points each. In the first leg, Gauzy and Alvaro Robles secured Ochsenhausen's 3:1 victory.

The 15th matchday in overview

Friday, January 27
7 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TSV Bad Königshofen

Sunday, January 29
1 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach – TTC Neu-Ulm
2 p.m.: Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
4.30 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – Post SV Mühlhausen

Monday, January 30
7 p.m.: 1. FC Saarbrücken TT – 1. FSV Mainz 05

Wednesday, February 1
7 p.m.: TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

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