Bundesliga
Revenge secured: Bad Homburg defeat Fulda
After last week’s narrow semi-final exit at the Pokal Final Four against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg got their revenge on Matchday 12 of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL). For Bad Homburg it’s an important win in the relegation battle, while Fulda’s play-off hopes continue to fade.
The hosts’ positive memories of the semi-final in Ulm/Neu-Ulm created a buzz before the rematch in Fulda, but on Sunday the visitors flipped the script from the start. “Last week we managed to turn all the tight sets our way. Today we left too much out there,” Ruwen Filus admitted, critiquing himself as well.
While Filus beat Csaba Andras in straight sets in the cup, the Hungarian had the upper hand in the league—erasing 8:10 deficits in two of the games during a straight-sets win. Juan Perez, who didn’t feature in the cup, added a 3:1 over Fanbo Meng, and Jo Yokotani defeated Filus, rallying from 1:2 to prevent a deciding doubles.
Ovtcharov delivers, Fulda in a relegation scrap
Only top player Dimitrij Ovtcharov carried his cup form into the first league matchday of the year. He did drop a game to Yokotani in their second meeting within eight days, but still underlined his status as Fulda’s most reliable point scorer.
In the table, Bad Homburg leapfrogs Fulda and now leads the bottom half in seventh. Fulda, who recently had one eye on the play-offs, must again look over their shoulder: the cushion to the relegation places is down to two points. “A very bitter defeat for us,” said Filus.
Matchday 12 at a glance
ASC Grunwettersbach – Post SV Muhlhausen 1:3
Tiago Apolonia – Ovidiu Ionescu 3:2 (12:10, 8:11, 13:11, 6:11, 11:7)
Tom Jarvis – Steffen Mengel 1:3 (11:13, 11:6, 10:12, 8:11)
Hiroto Shinozuka – Marcos Freitas 1:3 (9:11, 11:9, 10:12, 8:11)
Tobias Hippler – Steffen Mengel 1:3 (8:11, 11:9, 3:11, 6:11)
TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – Borussia Dusseldorf 2:3
Romain Ruiz – Li Yongyin 3:2 (5:11, 11:6, 7:11, 12:10, 11:4)
Benedikt Duda – Anton Kallberg 3:0 (11:7, 14:12, 12:10)
Leo de Nodrest – Dang Qiu 0:3 (9:11, 9:11, 4:11)
Romain Ruiz – Anton Kallberg 1:3 (11:6, 0:11, 5:11, 1:11)
Duda/de Nodrest – Qiu/Li 1:3 (11:5, 6:11, 9:11, 12:14)
TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg 1:3
Ruwen Filus – Csaba Andras 0:3 (8:11, 10:12, 11:13)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov – Jo Yokotani 3:1 (11:8, 12:10, 8:11, 11:6)
Fanbo Meng – Juan Perez 1:3 (4:11, 11:7, 7:11, 11:13)
Ruwen Filus – Jo Yokotani 2:3 (13:11, 11:5, 4:11, 9:11, 5:11)
Monday, 12 January
19:00: Borussia Dortmund – 1. FC Saarbrucken TT
Tuesday, 13 January
19:00: SV Werder Bremen – TSV Bad Konigshofen
Wednesday, 14 January
19:00: TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
All matches are live on Dyn.
Picture: Jo Yokotani of TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg (Photo: Ulrich Höfer)
