Bundesliga

SV Werder Bremen celebrated an important 3:1 away win at Borussia Dortmund on the 20th matchday of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). In an intense match, Kirill Gerassimenko was the outstanding player for the Bremen side with two wins, while Dortmund were again without points despite a promising start from Yongyin Li.

Borussia Dortmund got off to the best possible start in the match. Yongyin Li fought a high-class duel with the Swedish veteran Mattias Falck. After Li had won the first set 11:9, Falck turned up the heat in the second and equalized with a clear 11:3. But Li remained focused and showed strong nerves in the decisive moments. He took the next two sets 13:11 and 11:5 to give Dortmund a 1:0 lead.

Putuntica and Gerassimenko in top form - Bremen turns the match around

In the second match, Simon Berglund was faced with the challenge of coming back against Kirill Gerassimenko. The Dortmund player began with a narrow 11:8 set win, but Gerassimenko then took control of the game and went 2:1 ahead. However, Berglund fought back, equalized with a 12:10 in set four and forced the match into the deciding set. Gerassimenko had the better nerves there and brought Bremen back into the match with an 11:9 victory after trailing 7:9.

It was now up to Cedric Nuytinck to put Dortmund back in the lead. However, he was up against Andrei Putuntica, an opponent who is currently in excellent form. The Moldovan played with focus right from the start and narrowly won the first set. Nuytinck was able to come back and level the score - but it didn't help. Putuntica put down an exclamation mark at the end of the match and delivered Werder Bremen the second point of the evening (10:12, 11:6, 6:11, 7:11).

Strong Gerassimenko scores again

In the fourth match, it was the 28-year-old Kazakh's turn again. Gerasimenko went head-to-head with Yongyin Li over the full distance. He ultimately retained the upper hand in a hard-fought five-set duel and sealed the 3:1 win for Bremen with his second singles victory (11:13, 11:7, 11:7, 8:11, 4:11).

After the match, Putuntica was satisfied with his team's performance: “We've had a lot of matches recently, we're a bit tired, but we're still in good shape. We played really well today. Kirill played very well, as did Mattias. I'm also in pretty good form at the moment and was able to win some of the last games.”

The last two match days of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) promise to be exciting once again in the battle for the play-off places. TSV Bad Königshofen has the best chance of securing its place behind Borussia Düsseldorf and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, followed by the teams from Fulda and Saarbrücken, who are level on points. However, SV Werder Bremen can also still have hopes and will fight for a place in the play-offs until the last moment.

Click here for the current table: https://www.ttbl.de/en/bundesliga/table/

Overview of the 20th matchday

Borussia Dortmund - SV Werder Bremen 1:3
Yongyin Li – Mattias Falck 3:1 (11:9, 3:11, 13:11, 11:5)
Simon Berglund – Kirill Gerassimenko 2:3 (11:8, 5:11, 5:11, 12:10, 9:11)
Cedric Nuytinck – Andrei Putuntica 1:3 (10:12, 11:6, 6:11, 7:11)
Yongyin Li – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:2 (11:13, 11:7, 11:7, 8:11, 4:11)

ASC Grünwettersbach - Post SV Mühlhausen 3:2
Yu-An Chang - Daniel Habesohn 3:0 (11:6, 13:11, 12:10)
Tiago Apolonia - Steffen Mengel 2:3 (11:7, 10:12, 6:11, 11:8, 3:11)
Leo de Nodrest - Ovidiu Ionescu 3:2 (6:11, 12:10, 3:11, 15:13, 11:8)
Yu-An Chang - Steffen Mengel 0:3 (4:11, 8:11, 4:11)
Apolonia/Walther - Bertrand/Ionescu 3:1 (8:11, 11:5, 11:8, 11:8)

Borussia Düsseldorf - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 2:3
Timo Boll - Tiago Abiodun 3:1 (10:12, 11:4, 11:8, 11:5)
Kay Stumper - Simon Gauzy 2:3 (11:6, 3:11, 4:11, 11:9, 9:11)
Anton Källberg - Leonardo Iizuka 3:0 (11:3, 13:11, 11:5)
Timo Boll - Simon Gauzy 0:3 (1:11, 8:11, 9:11)
Källberg/Haug - Abiodun/Iizuka 1:3 (3:11, 11:4, 9:11, 11:13)

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 1:3
Dimitrij Ovtcharov - Samuel Walker 3:2 (6:11, 9:11, 11:2, 11:3, 11:4)
Fanbo Meng - Feng Yi-Hsin 0:3 (9:11, 8:11, 4:11)
Chih-Yuan Chuang - Luka Mladenovic 2:3 (11:9, 11:4, 7:11, 10:12, 8:11)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov - Feng Yi-Hsin 1:3 (11:4, 5:11, 2:11, 7:11)

1. FC Saarbrücken TT - TTC OE Bad Homburg 3:2
Patrick Franziska - Benno Oehme 1:3 (6:11, 11:5, 7:11, 8:11)
Darko Jorgic - Kristian Karlsson 2:3 (5:11, 11:6, 8:11, 11:4, 9:11)
Eduard Ionescu - Yuma Tsuboi 3:1 (11:4, 12:10, 7:11, 11:6)
Patrick Franziska - Kristian Karlsson 3:2 (9:11, 6:11, 12:10, 11:4, 13:11)
Meissner/Ionescu - Tsuboi/Oehme 3:0 (11:6, 12:10, 11:2)

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt - TSV Bad Königshofen 2:3
Benedikt Duda - Bastian Steger 3:2 (11:5, 6:11, 11:13, 11:7, 11:8)
Adrien Rassenfosse - Jin Ueda 2:3 (11:7, 8:11, 7:11, 11:9, 7:11)
Kanak Jha - Filip Zeljko 3:2 (11:13, 13:11, 11:6, 6:11, 11:9)
Benedikt Duda - Jin Ueda 2:3 (12:10, 6:11, 9:11, 11:3, 11:13)
Ruiz/Rassenfosse - Allegro/Steger 0:3 (3:11, 5:11, 9:11)

All games will be broadcast live and on demand on Dyn.

Featured image above: Kirill Gerassimenko from SV Werder Bremen (Photo: Robert Klein)