Bundesliga

After their surprise win over play-off contenders Borussia Dortmund on Monday, TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau followed up on Wednesday night with a 3–1 victory over TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg. Two wins in three days lifted Grenzau above Bad Homburg in the table and created breathing room in the relegation battle.

Head coach Slobodan Grujić’s side set the tone from the first ball. Feng Yi-Hsin put Grenzau on the road to victory with a completely straightforward 3–0 win over Juan Perez, sparking the home crowd in the Zugbrückenhalle for the first time. Feng fully lived up to his role as Grenzau’s leading man this week: the Taiwanese won all four of his singles against BVB and Bad Homburg. His record for the season now stands at 15 wins and nine defeats.

Next up was Luka Mladenovic against Bad Homburg’s top player Jo Yokotani. The Luxembourger in Grenzau colours raced into the match with an 11–5 first set, benefiting from Yokotani’s issues against the anti-topspin rubber. The Japanese player found better solutions in the following sets and repeatedly struck thunderous topspins for outright winners. But Mladenovic once again showed his fighting spirit. He stayed within touching distance in both sets and held his nerve twice in deuce to take the match in straight sets. That made it 2–0 for the hosts.

Andras thriller the only highlight for Bad Homburg

After the break, Martin Allegro faced Csaba Andras, who was tasked with launching a comeback for the visitors. Andras surged into a 2–0 lead, but then dropped the third set heavily. The fourth turned into a wild shootout: Allegro looked set to force a decider and opened a commanding 9–3 lead.

Andras swung the momentum, reeled off seven straight points and earned his first match point. He tried to finish it with a backhand flip, but sent it long. In a chaotic deuce battle, Andras missed three more match points before Allegro finally took the set 19–17 to push it to a fifth. Andras then came through on his fifth match point in the decider — a net cord that brought a bitter end for Grenzau to a spectacular contest. Feng completed the job in the battle of the No. 1s, beating Yokotani 3–0 again to seal the two points for the hosts.

Grenzau create breathing room as Bad Homburg remain in danger

In the space of three days, Grenzau have climbed from 11th to ninth. On 14 points, their cushion to bottom spot is now six points. At the moment, that place is occupied by ASC Grünwettersbach on eight points, while Bad Königshofen (10) and Bad Homburg (12) remain at risk. With second-tier TSV Windsbach applying for a TTBL licence for next season, the team finishing bottom faces relegation at the end of the campaign.

Matchday 18 in review

SV Werder Bremen – Post SV Mühlhausen 3–1
Kirill Gerassimenko – Liao Cheng-Ting 3–0 (11–4, 11–6, 11–2)
Mattias Falck – Ovidiu Ionescu 1–3 (5–11, 9–11, 11–9, 9–11)
Irvin Bertrand – Kay Stumper 3–1 (11–5, 6–11, 11–5, 11–9)
Kirill Gerassimenko – Ovidiu Ionescu 3–1 (11–5, 5–11, 11–9, 12–10)

1. FC Saarbrücken TT – ASC Grünwettersbach 3–1
Eduard Ionescu – Tobias Hippler 3–1 (5–11, 11–4, 11–9, 11–3)
Fan Zhendong – Ricardo Walther 3–1 (11–5, 11–5, 7–11, 11–5)
Darko Jorgic – Tom Jarvis 1–3 (9–11, 11–6, 5–11, 4–11)
Eduard Ionescu – Ricardo Walther 3–2 (11–8, 13–15, 9–11, 11–8, 11–7)

TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 1–3
Iulian Chirita – Fanbo Meng 3–0 (13–11, 11–2, 12–10)
Leonardo Iizuka – Ruwen Filus 0–3 (7–11, 12–14, 7–11)
Andreas Levenko – Jonathan Groth 1–3 (4–11, 12–14, 11–4, 7–11)
Iulian Chirita – Ruwen Filus 2–3 (9–11, 11–5, 11–6, 9–11, 9–11)

TSV Bad Königshofen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 0–3
Xue Fei – Romain Ruiz 0–3 (7–11, 8–11, 9–11)
Andre Bertelsmeier – Benedikt Duda 0–3 (5–11, 13–15, 7–11)
Bastian Steger – Leo de Nodrest 0–3 (7–11, 5–11, 10–12)

Borussia Dortmund – Borussia Düsseldorf 1–3
Alberto Miño – Dang Qiu 1–3 (5–11, 10–12, 12–10, 6–11)
Adam Szudi – Anton Källberg 3–1 (11–9, 12–14, 11–6, 11–7)
Cedric Nuytinck – Li Yongyin 0–3 (2–11, 7–11, 8–11)
Alberto Miño – Anton Källberg 1–3 (12–10, 8–11, 8–11, 9–11)

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg 3–1
Feng Yi-Hsin – Juan Perez 3–0 (11–5, 11–7, 11–2)
Luka Mladenovic – Jo Yokotani 3–0 (11–5, 12–10, 12–10)
Martin Allegro – Csaba Andras 2–3 (8–11, 7–11, 11–5, 19–17, 9–11)
Feng Yi-Hsin – Jo Yokotani 3–0 (12–10, 11–9, 11–4)

All matches are streamed live on Dyn.

The current TTBL standings can be found here.

Note: The attached media package contains a royalty-free photo of Feng Yi-Hsin (TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, photo: Ulrich Höfer).