Suspense until the end - Bad Königshofen scores in Fulda
The last match of the fifth matchday in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) between TTC Rhönsprudel-Maberzell and TSV Bad Königshofen started promisingly for the hosts from Hesse. At the end of a long evening, the team had to congratulate the guests from Bad Königshofen on a 3:2 victory despite a strong performance. The red lantern thus remains with the current bottom team in Fulda.
In the first singles match of the evening, Ruwen Filus (Fulda) and Martin Allegro (Bad Königshofen) faced each other. Filus was convincing time and again with his spectacular defensive play and the 35-year-old also had the luck of the capable on his side. At 9:10 in the fourth set, an edge ball from the balloon defense saved him from losing the set and a decisive fifth set. He converted the match point at 12:10 in the fourth set with a crashing forehand top game into Allegro's backhand side (11:6, 8:11, 11:7, 12:10) and thus put his team in the lead. But the answer from TSV Bad Königshofen was not long in coming, as Thibault Poret lost clearly in three sets against Bastian Steger (7:11, 4:11, 8:11).
Fan Bo Meng shows nerves of steel
The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the duel between Fan Bo Meng and Filip Zeljko. Meng showed a fighting spirit from the beginning, but in the first two rounds he did not find a suitable means to become dangerous for Zeljko. Immediately afterwards, the youngster started to catch up and won the next two sets. In the deciding set, Meng fended off three match points from Zeljko and once again proved his strong fighting spirit. The impressive table tennis spectacle was rewarded with a 3:2 victory and the renewed lead for the hosts.
The fourth match between Ruwen Filus and Bastian Steger was initially very even. In the third and fourth set, however, Steger dominated the match and managed to equalize the score again. Steger explained his dominance in the last two sets very modestly afterwards: "I simply didn't make any more easy mistakes. Ruwen made more small mistakes in the end and that is sometimes enough."
Strong performance is not rewarded
The decisive final doubles between Fan Bo Meng and Thibault Poret (Fulda) and Martin Allegro and Filip Zeljko (Bad Königshofen) delivered high tension until the end. After Allegro and Zeljko were already leading 2:0, Meng and Poret secured the third set and they also started furiously in the fourth. There was a hint of sensation in the air for a short time, but a 10:7 lead was finally not enough to force the deciding set (9:11, 8:11, 11:7, 11:13).
In the end, the pairing of TSV Bad Königshofen prevailed 3:1 and contributed the last point to the 3:2 overall victory.
The sixth match day of the Table Tennis Bundesliga promises further exciting matches. The first match will already take place on Friday, 06.10.2023 at 7 p.m., between ASV Grünwettersbach and 1. FSV Mainz 05.
Overview: 5. Matchday
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TSV Bad Königshofen 2:3
Ruwen Filus – Martin Allegro 3:1 (11:6, 8:11, 11:7, 12:10)
Thibault Poret – Bastian Steger 0:3 (7:11, 4:11, 8:11)
Fan Bo Meng – Filip Zeljko 3:2 (7:11, 5:11, 11:5, 11:9, 14:12)
Ruwen Filus – Bastian Steger 1:3 (9:11, 11:8, 3:11, 2:11)
Fan Bo Meng/Thibault Poret – Martin Allegro/Filip Zeljko 1:3 (9:11, 8:11, 11:7, 11:13)
Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3:0
Anton Källberg – Frederik Duda 3:0 (11:6, 11:1, 11:1)
Dang Qiu – Benedikt Duda 3:1 (11:4, 11:4, 4:11, 12:10)
Kay Stumper – Adrien Rassenfosse 3:0 (11:9, 11:6, 11:9)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – ASV Grünwettersbach 3:1
Hugo Calderano – Wang Xi 3:0 (11:7, 11:4, 11:7)
Alvaro Robles – Tiago Apolonia 0:3 (9:11, 10:12, 7:11)
Simon Gauzy – Ricardo Walther 3:1 (7:11, 11:6, 11:5, 11:9)
Hugo Calderano – Tiago Apolonia 3:0 (11:6, 11:8, 17:15)
1. FC Saarbrücken TT – Post SV Mühlhausen 3:1
Darko Jorgic – Steffen Mengel 3:1 (11:7, 11:2, 12:14, 11:7)
Cedric Meissner – Nico Müller 3:1 (11:6, 10:12, 11:3, 11:4)
Patrick Franziska – Ovidiu Ionescu 0:3 (8:11, 8:11, 3:11)
Darko Jorgic – Nico Müller 3:0 (12:10, 11:4, 12:10)
1. FSV Mainz 05 – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 0:3
Yongyin Li – Samuel Walker 2:3 (11:5, 10:12, 9:11, 11:9, 6:11)
Rares Sipos – Yi-Hsin Feng 0:3 (5:11, 9:11, 8:11)
Carlo Rossi – Maciej Kubik 0:3 (2:11, 5:11, 9:11)
All TTBL matches are broadcast live on Dyn.