Post SV Mühlhausen secured the first victory of the 2025-26 Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) season after defeating ASC Grünwettersbach at home 3-1 on Wednesday.
This victory makes Mühlhausen the first table tennis club to earn points in the 2025-26 TTBL season. The three sets Mühlhausen won and the one game they lost in their opening match awarded them two points (2:0), while taking two points from Grünwettersbach (0:2).
Mühlhausen's Steffen Mengel (1) won the first set of the day against Grünwettersbach Tiago Apolonia (2), and he only needed four games to do so. All four of those victories came within no more than four points (11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7), but Mengel’s quick effort gave Mühlhausen an early lead.
Grünwettersbach's Hiroto Shinozuka (1) made his TTBL debut against Mühlhausen Kay Stumper (2). Stumper won his first-ever game 11-7 following his departure from Borussia Düsseldorf, but he then lost three straight games to Shinozuka, including an 11-3 fourth game.
With the match tied at one set apiece, Mühlhausen Marcos Freitas faced off against Grünwettersbach Ricardo Walther, both eager to turn the tables in their teams’ favor. Each player took one game before embarking on a third game, a game neither player refused to lose. But Freitas narrowly edged Walther 14-12 before overwhelming him in the fourth game, 11-5, to give Mühlhausen the match lead.
The top players on both sides returned for the fourth set. Shinozuka hoped to keep Grünwettersbach chances alive. Mengel aimed to finish his opponent. They traded wins throughout four games that could hardly have been closer, including a 17-15 fourth game from Shinozuka to force the first winner-take-all fifth game of this match.
That resilient performance from Shinozuka was the final gasp of the match for Grünwettersbach. He could only muster two points in the fifth and final game against Mengel, whose dominance earned Mühlhausen their first win of the new season.
If the match were to go into doubles, Mühlhausen would have sent out Freitas and Ovidiu Ionescu (4) to face Walther and Apolonia.
Both of these two clubs will play their next games against the two squads that have been recently promoted to the Bundesliga. Grünwettersbach will travel to Bad Homburg and face TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg e.V. Mühlhausen will play their first away game of the season against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau on Sept. 8.
