Bundesliga

Borussia Düsseldorf beat the team from 1. FSV Mainz 05 3:0 in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) this evening. The team from the Rheinhessen were only able to call on one of their first division players, Li Yongyin, in this match, giving the regional league reserve some match practice in the top flight.

The opening game of the evening belonged to Anton Källberg, who shone with an unchallenged performance against Johannes Willeke. Källberg dominated the match against the anti-top player right from the start and did not allow his opponent to get into the game. With a clear 11:3, 13:11 and 11:7, Källberg once again showed that he has no problems playing against an anti-top, as he did against Luka Mladenovic in the first leg.

Müller wins set against Boll

In the second match, Timo Boll stepped into the box against Dennis Müller. In the first two sets, the record European champion lived up to his role as favorite and clearly won the sets 11:4 and 11:3. Müller was more active as a result and forced Boll to make supposedly easy mistakes. The reward came at the end of the third set, when the underdog from Mainz prevailed 12:10. In the fourth set, Boll left nothing to chance and secured the second point for Borussia with an 11:3 set win.

In the third game between Kay Stumper and Li Yongyin, Li wanted to score the next point for Mainz. With a TTBL record of 13 wins and eight defeats, the 24-year-old has already proven on several occasions that he is not to be underestimated. However, Kay Stumper was not impressed by this and played confidently from start to finish. Only in the second set did things get tight again. In the end, however, it was a commanding 3:0 victory (11:7, 13:11, 11:7), which also meant overall victory for Borussia from Düsseldorf.

Comments on the game:

Dennis Müller (1. FSV Mainz 05) on how he feels about his TTBL debut: "If someone had told me that a few weeks ago, then of course I wouldn't have believed that I would be standing here today. I'm no longer in the prime of my table tennis career and then to play another match in the Bundesliga and then against the best player Germany has ever produced and to win a set to boot, that's really nice. But now it's back home to my wife and child."

In the coming weeks, there will be more top-class matches in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). On Monday, March 25, TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau will face TSV Bad Königshofen.
On Sunday, April 7, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen will host ASV Grünwettersbach and the final match of the 19th matchday will take place on Tuesday, April 9, between SV Werder Bremen and TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell.

Overview of the 19th matchday

Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FSV Mainz 05 3:0
Anton Källberg – Johannes Willeke 3:0 (11:3, 13:11, 11:7)
Timo Boll – Dennis Müller 3:1 (11:4, 11:3, 10:12, 11:3)
Kay Stumper – Li Yongyin 3:0 (11:7, 13:11, 11:7)

1. FC Saarbrücken TT – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3:0
Cedric Meissner – Romain Ruiz 3:1 (5:11, 11:9, 11:8, 11:5)
Yuto Muramatsu – Benedikt Duda 3:0 (11:9, 13:11, 11:8)
Darko Jorgic – Adrien Rassenfosse 3:1 (11:6, 11:8, 9:11, 11:5)

Montag, 25. März
19 Uhr: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – TSV Bad Königshofen

Sonntag, 7. April
16 Uhr: ASV Grünwettersbach – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

Dienstag, 9. April
19 Uhr: SV Werder Bremen – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

All Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) matches live and on demand at Dyn.

Featured image: Timo Boll from Borussia Düsseldorf (Photo: Jörg Fuhrmann)