Wim Verdonschot guided SV Union Velbert to what was almost an unprecedented victory in the German Table Tennis Cup quarterfinals on Monday. But their effort wasn’t enough to eliminate 1. FC Saarbrücken - TT (6-3, 12:6).
Saarbrücken took down Velbert in five sets on Monday to advance to the Final Four of the 2025-26 German Table Tennis Cup. Saarbrücken showed their depth yet again, as they quashed an upset bid from Velbert without superstar Fan Zhendong.
Velbert proved right away that, even though they play in Table Tennis Bundesliga's second division, they would be a formidable foe to face. Verdonschot (1) took down Eduard Ionescu (2) in two close games to start the match (12-10, 11-9) before falling in the third game 12-10. The fourth game ended with a 13-11 victory for Verdonschot, putting Velbert on the board.
Three of Verdonschot and Ionescu’s matches ended with the winner scoring more than 11 points, as did Timotius Köchling’s (2) first game (13-11) against Darko Jorgic (1). That trend wouldn’t continue for the rest of the second set, as Jorgic beat Köchling 11-6 in the second and third games before tying the match with an 11-9 fourth game victory.
Saarbrücken continued its onslaught, as Patrick Franziska (3) swept Velbert’s Anton Limonov (3) to take the match lead (11-5, 13-11, 9-11). Any hope that Velbert received following Verdonschot’s first game looked to be little more than wishful thinking.
That is, until Verdonschot stepped back onto the table.
There would be no easy victories for Jorgic in the fourth set. In fact, there would be no victories for Jorgic in the first two games, as Verdonschot stole the first game 14-12 and the second game 11-8. Jorgic snapped Verdonschot’s winning streak with an 11-8 victory in the third game before crushing him in the fourth game 11-4. But Verdonschot outlasted Jorgic in the fifth game 11-8, forcing a winner-take-all doubles set.
Velbert’s momentum continued in the first doubles game, which ended with an 11-9 victory for Köchling and Limonov. Unfortunately for Velbert, that game wasn’t the rising action for an unbelievable match. It was the beginning of their downfall. Ionescu and Franziska clobbered Velbert 11-5 in the second game, 11-3 in the third game and 11-4 in the fourth game.
Saarbrücken joins TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen as three of the four teams still in the running for this year’s German Table Tennis Cup. After two consecutive second-place finishes last season, Saarbrücken looks to finally take home the trophy.
Saarbrücken is expected to face Ochsenhausen in the Final Four, which would be a rematch of the 2024-25 German Table Tennis Cup Finals.
