Matchday 17: Bremen receives Saarbrücken, Grenzau hopes for the next coup
The 17th matchday of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) continues on Friday evening with the duel between SV Werder Bremen and 1. FC Saarbrücken TT. Three more matches await on Sunday - among others, TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau will then hope for a continuation of its winning streak at Post SV Mühlhausen. Finally, on Monday evening, TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell will host TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.
SV Werder Bremen - 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
SV Werder Bremen had delivered a hot dance to 1. FC Saarbrücken TT in the first leg: At the beginning of December, the Hanseatic team fought their way into the doubles, in which Patrick Franziska and Cedric Nuytinck then ultimately clinched victory for the reigning runners-up of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). In the return match, Werder now wants revenge - and thus to keep their hopes alive for play-off participation. With 16:16 points, the Bremen team is currently only two points behind fourth place, having recently won a 3:1 coup in Mulhouse. Saarbrücken, on the other hand, are almost certain to make the play-offs: with six games still to play, they are already six points clear of fifth place. Last week, the FCS scored an easy win against Fulda. "We have gained a lot of self-confidence after the very important away win in Mühlhausen and will try to give the favorites a leg up in our own hall," says Bremen manager Sascha Greber.
Post SV Mühlhausen - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau has already won three matches in a row and is currently on the longest winning streak in the league. After the victories against Grünwettersbach and Düsseldorf, the team from the Westerwald recently won against Bad Königshofen and thus left the relegation zone. However, the danger is by no means averted: With 12:20 points, Grenzau is only above the line due to the better match ratio compared to Fulda and would therefore like to achieve the next success at Post SV Mühlhausen. The fourth-placed team is one of the strongest at home in the TTBL and has only suffered two defeats this season at Kristanplatz - against Bad Königshofen and most recently against Bremen. "On paper, it is clear who is the favorite here," says Grenzau manager Markus Ströher with a view to the table constellation. "But the first leg also showed that we might be able to sniff a surprise after all. If we win the second singles match then, which Maciej Kubik only gives up in the fifth set with 9:11, maybe something is possible. We're going to Mulhouse to be an unpleasant opponent again."
TTC Neu-Ulm - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
The situation in the bottom of the table is slowly becoming threatening for TTC Neu-Ulm: the Swabians have won only one of their last eight matches, and as a result they have dropped from third place to seventh. And the position in the table offers a deceptive security, because with 14:18 points Neu-Ulm is only two points ahead of the relegation zone. Last Sunday, it suffered a 1:3 defeat at bottom team Mainz. One of the teams behind Neu-Ulm is TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt - which, however, recently managed a statement win. By beating Grünwettersbach 3-0, Benedikt Duda and Co. prevented the team from falling to 11th place and now want to improve on that against Neu-Ulm in order to at least reach 8th place in the table. "It was a really good day for us. But there is still a long way to go to stay in the class," Duda had said directly after the success against Grünwettersbach: "We now want to score even more points in February."
ASV Grünwettersbach - TSV Bad Königshofen
ASV Grünwettersbach will be reluctant to remember the first leg: on Matchday 3, the Baden team was already leading 2:0, then Ricardo Walther and Tiago Apolonia both had their eyes on victory - but in the end, TSV Bad Königshofen triumphed. The team from Lower Franconia is also ahead in the standings at the moment: while Bad Königshofen, with 18:14 points, can dream of qualifying for the play-offs as fifth in the table, Grünwettersbach is in the fight to stay in the relegation zone. Last Sunday, ASV lost 3-0 to Bergneustadt and is now only two points ahead of the relegation zone.
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
These are tricky weeks for TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell at the moment: With the duels against Mühlhausen (3:2), Saarbrücken (0:3) and now the TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, the East Hessians are facing three teams from the top four of the TTBL in a row, and despite the success against Post SV, they could not prevent the fall to a relegation place. Before the duel with Ochsenhausen, the Fulda team is in eleventh place with 12:20 points. The decisive matches in the bottom of the table await the TTC when they play Bergneustadt, Grenzau, Grünwettersbach and Mainz. Ochsenhausen, on the other hand, has excellent prospects of returning to the play-offs: Despite two defeats in a row, the TTF are still in third place and, with 20:12 points, are two points ahead of fifth place.
The 17th matchday in overview
Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FSV Mainz 05 3:0
Anton Källberg – Luka Mladenovic 3:0 (11:3, 11:3, 11:8)
Dang Qiu – Yuto Muramatsu 3:1 (11:7, 11:3, 8:11, 11:9)
Timo Boll – Carlo Rossi 3:0 (11:4, 11:6, 11:1)
Friday, February 10 7 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
Sunday, February 12
1 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
3 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
4.30 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach – TSV Bad Königshofen
Monday, February 13
7 p.m.: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
You can see all the games live on Spontent's channels on Twitch.