Fan Zhendong may have been 1. FC Saarbrücken - TT’s (4-2, 8:4) prized offseason acquisition, but his new club doesn’t always need him to win convincingly.
Saarbrücken flaunted their depth on Sunday, defeating Post SV Mühlhausen (3-3, 10:13) 3-0. Saarbrücken only lost two of the 11 total games they played against Mühlhausen, all without Fan.
Though Saarbrücken did not compete at full strength, neither did Mühlhausen. None of Steffen Mengel, Nico Müller or Kay Stumper suited up for Mühlhausen, making their match against the second-ranked team in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) even more difficult to win.
Saarbrücken’s depth has been a strength all season long, and it wasted no time in proving its might. Eduard Ionescu (No. 1) commanded the first game of the day with an 11-3 rout of Ivo Quett (No. 2), and he completed a sweep by winning his next two games 11-7 and 11-6.
Saarbrücken’s path to victory was obscured just a little bit when Mühlhausen sent out Ovidiu Ionescu (No. 1) for the second match. Darko Jorgic (No. 2), the __-th ranked men’s singles player in the world, needed 12 points to take the first game from Ionescu before losing the second game, 11-7.
Jorgic broke the tie with an 11-8 victory in the third game, but Ionescu knotted the score back up by winning the fourth game. Both players fought to win the pivotal fifth game, but Jorgic took it for Saarbrücken with a score of 11-7, his largest margin of victory of the match against Ionescu.
From there, it was smooth sailing for Saarbrücken. Patrick Franziska (No. 3) took the table against Mühlhausen’s trainer, Erik Schreyer (No. 3), and cruised to an 11-3 win in the first game. Two games later, Franziska swept Schreyer (11-6, 11-4) and sealed the overall victory for Saarbrücken.
This win keeps Saarbrücken as the second-ranked team in the league, but it puts them closer to surpassing top-ranked SV Werder Bremen (5-1, 10:2). A win for Mühlhausen would have earned them the record Saarbrücken has now, but their loss pushed them down to No. 8 in the standings.
Saarbrücken will play ASC Grunwettersbach (5-3, 6:4) on Nov. 11 at 12 p.m. EST for a battle between two teams eager to cement themselves into postseason contention. Post SV Mühlhausen will take on TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (3-3, 6:6), the reigning champions, on Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. EST.
