Two strong comebacks: Mainz gets second win of the season in Bad Königshofen
1.FSV Mainz 05 has new hope in the fight to stay in the table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). On Saturday, the bottom team managed a 3:1 win at TSV Bad Königshofen thanks to strong comebacks from Yuto Muramatsu and Luka Mladenovic.
In recent months, TSV Bad Königshofen had shown itself to be a specialist for spectacular comebacks in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). On Saturday afternoon, however, 1. FSV Mainz 05 now turned the tables, winning 3:1 after trailing by clear margins at times and celebrating the second win of the season and at the same time the second TTBL victory in the club's history. With this, the promoted team has new hope in the fight against relegation: With now 4:16 points, Mainz is equal on plus points with TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau and TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt (both 4:14) and could even overtake both teams in the further course of the 10th matchday. Bergneustadt receives SV Werder Bremen tomorrow (from 1 p.m.), Grenzau plays Borussia Düsseldorf (from 5 p.m.). Bad Königshofen is currently in seventh place with 10:10 points.
The first building block of Mainz's success was Yuto Muramatsu's comeback. Against Kilian Ort, the 26-year-old Japanese was quickly trailing 0:2 sets, so that the 0:2 deficit in the team score seemed to be approaching. However, Muramatsu then started the third set with 6:0 points and then took the match. Ort fended off the first three match points of his opponent in the fifth set, but finally Muramatsu secured a 12:10 and therefore the 3:2 (6:11, 8:11, 11:8, 11:8, 12:10) victory. In the first match, Bastian Steger had won 3:0 (11:7, 11:8, 11:2) against Andrei Putuntica, so that it went into the break with a 1-1 score.
Tomasz Kasica: "We want to go one better in Fulda".
After this, Luka Mladenovic made another strong comeback for the guests - the second building block of Mainz's success. The 23-year-old was also down 2-0 at the start against Yukiya Uda, but eventually celebrated a 3-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6) win to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. The decision was made in the top singles match. Here, Muramatsu fended off Steger's comeback in the second set, thus providing the third building block, and finally made everything clear with a 3-0 (11:6, 12:10, 11:3) win. "Yuto's victory in the amount was a bit surprising, Bastian is after all an experienced Bundesliga player," said Mainz sports director Tomasz Kasica and then looked ahead to the next match: "Now we have the next points in the Bundesliga and want to follow up right away in Fulda."
The last first-round match for Mainz will be next Thursday, December 22, at TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell. Bad Königshofen will play at Post SV Mühlhausen on Wednesday, December 21. All matches will be broadcast live on the Spontent channels on Twitch.
The 10th matchday in overview
ASV Grünwettersbach – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 2:3
Ricardo Walther – Fanbo Meng 3:0 (11:7, 11:8, 11:5)
Ryota Shimmyo – Alexandre Cassin (4:11, 2:11, 3:11)
Deni Kozul – Quadri Aruna 2:3 (12:10, 8:11, 7:11, 11:8, 7:11)
Ricardo Walther – Alexandre Cassin 3:1 (5:11, 11:8, 12:10, 11:8)
Ryota Shimmyo/Deni Kozul – Quadri Aruna/Fanbo Meng 0:3 (9:11, 4:11, 7:11)
1. FC Saarbrücken TT – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 3:1
Darko Jorgic – Samuel Kulczycki 3:1 (11:3, 7:11, 11:8, 11:8)
Jin Takuya – Shunsuke Togami 1:3 (9:11, 11:8, 8:11, 12:14)
Patrick Franziska – Can Akkazu 3:1 (9:11, 11:8, 11:6, 11:7)
Darko Jorgic – Shunsuke Togami 3:1 (11:6, 11:9, 3:11, 11:9)
TSV Bad Königshofen – 1. FSV Mainz 05 1:3
Bastian Steger – Andrei Putuntica 3:0 (11:7, 11:8, 11:2)
Kilian Ort – Yuto Muramatsu 2:3 (11:6, 11:8, 8:11, 8:11, 10:12)
Yukiya Uda – Luka Mladenovic 2:3 (11:7, 11:6, 4:11, 7:11, 6:11)
Bastian Steger – Yuto Muramatsu 0:3 (6:11, 10:12, 3:11)
Sunday, December 18
1 p.m.: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – SV Werder Bremen
5 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – Borussia Düsseldorf
Monday, December 19
7 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – Post SV Mühlhausen