(by Steve Hopkins, photo ITTFWorld)

Neu Ulm’s loaded team of Harimoto, Moregardh, and Ovtcharov narrowly escaped their home match against Borussia Dusseldorf today 3-2.  Harimoto gave Neu Ulm the early lead with a 3-1 win over Dang Qiu.  Anton Kallberg then toppled Ovtcharov 3-0 to even the match score.  Moregardh narrowly defeated Timo Boll 3-2, to claim the advantage again for Neu Ulm.  And then Kallberg pulled off a major upset again – this time with a 3-2 win over Tomokazu Harimoto.  This left the match score tied 2-2 and it was Dimitrij Ovtcharov that secured the win for Neu Ulm with a 3-1 victory over Dang Qiu.  The next match will be played in Dusseldorf – so perhaps the home crowd can spur their team on and change the result when the next phase is played this weekend.

The other Semifinal match between Muhlhausen and Saarbrucken was played on Tuesday.  Saarbrucken relied on Jorgic and Franziska to move forward 3-1 (with Franziska winning twice).  The lone loss was Muhlhausen’s Steffen Mengel who defeated Saarbrucken’s Cedric Nuytinck 3-1.  Saarbrucken is now up 1-0 in the best of three series, and they are heading home for the next match.

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