FCS TT win international home game against Grenzau in Luxembourg

1. FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis narrowly beat last-placed team Grenzau. This home game took place in neighbouring Luxembourg – an unqualified success. 

For the 16th day of play in the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL), 1. FC Saarbrücken TT managed a hard-fought 3:2 win against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, currently the bottom team in the league. Although the Saarland team started strong with two victories, the event became a thrilling duel that was only clinched by Saarbrücken in the final doubles match.

Patrick Franziska scored the first point for his team. The 32 year old, who recently reached the quarter-finals of the WTT tournament in Singapore where he was knocked out none other than by world number one Wang Chuqin, put in a confident performance against English player Samuel Walker in front of a sold-out crowd. He lived up to his position as favourite and dominated the match from the outset. A clear 3:0 win highlighted his current top form, which has put him at eighth place in the world rankings.

Cedric Meissner also made an impression: he remained focused against Gegen Yi-Hsin Feng of Taiwan and showed strong nerve at critical moments. After a highly competitive duel, he secured a 3:1 win (12:10, 11:7, 10:12, 11:6) to give his team a 2:0 lead. However, Grenzau were not discouraged and fought their way back.

Luka Mladenovic kick-started the turnaround: the Luxembourg native, who was not previously considered a reliable source of points, had a perfect day and surprisingly outclassed world number 14 Darko Jorgic 11:7, 11:5 and 11:5. This kept his team in the running.

This put the pressure back on Patrick Franziska and his second singles match against Yi-Hsin Feng. This became one of the most exciting encounters of the evening, with both players providing an open exchange of blows across five sets. Feng ultimately prevailed 3:2 (11:5, 5:11, 11:8, 6:11, 11:8) to equalise to 2:2 for Grenzau.

This made the doubles match the decider. Cedric Meissner and Eduard Ionescu were playing for Saarbrücken, whilst Grenzau was represented by Samuel Walker and Luka Mladenovic. The first set was already a test of nerves, which Meissner/Ionescu took 16:14 in additional time. The second set was similarly hard-fought to 12:10, until Saarland gained the upper hand. A final set at 11:6 perfectly secured the 3:0 doubles win and victory celebrations for Saarbrücken.

One particular highlight: for the first time in more then seven years, a TTBL match was held outside of Germany. The location was Berbourg in Luxembourg, where the match took place to mark the local table tennis club’s 50th anniversary. Close links between the Luxembourg club and Saarbrücken via a shared outfitter are what made the international event possible. The venue, some 100 kilometres from Saarbrücken, was already sold out before the event began – not least thanks to the involvement of Luka Mladenovic, a member of the Luxembourg national team. Other matches abroad may well follow in the future.

We are very excited about this new experience. As one of Germany’s leading clubs, internationalisation is of course of great interest to us.

Nicolas Barrois, team manager FCS TT

This success keeps Saarbrücken on track for the playoffs with 18:14 points, but they will still need to fight to qualify. Grenzau, on the other hand, are at the bottom of the table with a tally of 6:26, and urgently need some wins if they are to keep their chances of staying in the league alive.