Bundesliga

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau gave itself an early Christmas present with its third victory of the season in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL): On Tuesday evening, head coach Slobodan Grujic's team won 3-1 at ASC Grünwettersbach, keeping alive its hopes of staying above the relegation line at the turn of the year.

ASC Grünwettersbach suffered a setback on Tuesday at the start of an intense end-of-year sprint. The Baden team lost 1:3 to TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, their sixth defeat of the season. With 8:12 points, Grünwettersbach remains in seventh place in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) ahead of Post SV Mühlhausen, which is level on points and lost 1:3 to Borussia Düsseldorf at the same time. However, ASC does not have much time to catch its breath: The first half of the season will conclude on Thursday, December 18, with the Baden-Württemberg derby at TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen. Three days later, on Sunday, December 21, Grünwettersbach will compete in the Champions League round of 16 in France at GV Hennebont TT, where they will be looking to make up for their 1:3 defeat in the first leg.

“The players show time and again what they are capable of. But it's still too rare that they all manage to perform at their best together,” said Grenzau manager Markus Ströher before the match. On Tuesday, the TTC players succeeded. Right at the start of the singles, Luka Mladenovic set the course for the away victory: he defeated ASC's top player Hiroto Shinozuka 3:2, securing the break for the visitors.

Also Feng Yi-Hsin beats Hiroto Shinozuka

Tiago Apolonia then equalized for Grünwettersbach with a 3-0 win over Feng Yi-Hsin. However, the next two singles matches went to Grenzau. Maciej Kubik celebrated a 3-0 win over Tobias Hippler, his first singles victory since the end of October. Feng then sealed the deal for the visitors. He pulled away from Shinozukua in the fifth set to lead 9-3, securing two match points and finally winning 11-8 to seal a 3-1 victory for the visitors.

“An individual victory for each of us – that's something to be proud of. I'm happy that we managed to win,” said Mladenovic after the match at the Dyn microphone. For Grenzau, it was their third victory of the season and their first since October 7. With 6:14 points, TTC remains eleventh in the table for the time being, but has closed the gap on the teams above them. Borussia Dortmund (10th) and TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg (9th) are currently in those positions with 6:12 points each. In the last match of the first half of the season, Grenzau will face TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell on Monday, December 22.

Match day #10 at a glance

1. FC Saarbrücken TT – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 3:0
Darko Jorgic – Shunsuke Togami 3:2 (10:12, 1:11, 11:7, 11:9, 11:6)
Fan Zhendong – Iulian Chirita 3:0 (11:9, 12:10, 11:2)
Patrick Franziska – Andreas Levenko 3:0 (12:10, 11:5, 11:9)

ASC Grünwettersbach – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 1:3
Hiroto Shinozuka – Luka Mladenovic 2:3 (9:11, 11:7, 13:11, 8:11, 4:11)
Tiago Apolonia – Feng Yi-Hsin 3:0 (11:9, 16:14, 12:10)
Tobias Hippler – Maciej Kubik 0:3 (7:11, 3:11, 7:11)
Hiroto Shinozuka – Feng Yi-Hsin 2:3 (11:9, 8:11, 7:11, 11:8, 8:11)

Borussia Düsseldorf – Post SV Mühlhausen 3:1
Dang Qiu – Ovidiu Ionescu 3:1 (11:6, 8:11, 11:8, 11:9)
Borgar Haug – Steffen Mengel 0:3 (9:11, 9:11, 4:11)
Anton Källberg – Marcos Freitas 3:0 (11:7, 11:9, 11:8)
Dang Qiu – Steffen Mengel 3:2 (11:7, 11:3, 8:11, 4:11, 11:6)

Wednesday, December 17
7 pm: Borussia Dortmund – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg
7.30 pm: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – TSV Bad Königshofen

Thursday, December 18
7 pm: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – SV Werder Bremen

Header photo: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau's Feng Yi-Hsin (by Wolfgang Heil)