Bundesliga

Borussia Düsseldorf remains at the top of the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL) standings after Matchday 18: The record champions celebrated their 15th win of the season on Tuesday evening with a 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund. Düsseldorf had already secured its spot in the Liebherr TTBL Final4 even before the first rally.

Borussia Düsseldorf has had two eventful days: First, on Monday afternoon, the leader of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) announced the sensational signing of Fan Zhendong, who will move from 1. FC Saarbrücken TT to the Rhine after the season. Just a few hours later, thanks to the results of their rivals, the team secured its spot in the Liebherr TTBL Final4. On Tuesday, the Düsseldorf team celebrated another sporting success: With a 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund, the record champions defended their lead in the standings and, with 30-6 points, are now two points ahead of SV Werder Bremen (28-8), which had also won 3-1 against Post SV Mühlhausen on Monday.

“After the long league break, we can be satisfied with today’s performance,” Düsseldorf’s Dang Qiu said afterward on the Dyn microphone. “Next week we have two important matches against Bad Königshofen and Bremen—the goal is to secure the best possible position heading into the playoffs.”

For BVB, on the other hand, it was their second loss in 24 hours—on Monday, the team had already lost 1-3 to TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau in the early match of the 20th matchday. With a record of 18-20, Dortmund’s chances of reaching the TTBL semifinals are now purely mathematical; they trail fourth-place TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt (24-12) by six points and have a significant deficit in head-to-head matchups.

Anton Källberg keeps his cool against Alberto Mino

Playing without Kristian Karlsson and Anders Lind, Dortmund were the underdogs on Tuesday but put up a strong fight. Anton Källberg, in particular, had a tough time against BVB: The Swede, who started in the number one position, initially lost quite clearly, 1-3, to Adam Szudi. In the top singles match, Källberg initially fell behind 0-1 in sets against Alberto Mino, but kept his cool during the critical moments. With the 3-1 victory, Düsseldorf’s win was finally sealed.

The other two singles matches had previously gone decisively to the visitors. Dang Qiu secured the lead for Düsseldorf with a 3-1 win over Mino in the opening singles match. In the third singles match, Li Yongyin secured a 3-0 victory over Cedric Nuytinck.

The 18th matchday of the Table Tennis Bundesliga concludes tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18, with the match between TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau and TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg. This and all other TTBL matches will be broadcast live on Dyn.

Match day #18 at a glance

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 Mino – 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 Mino – Anton Källberg 1:3 (12:10, 8:11, 8:11, 9:11)

Wednesday, March 18
7 pm: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg

All matches will be broadcast live on Dyn.

Header photo: Borussia Düsseldorf's Li Yongyin (by Jörg Fuhrmann)