(by Steve Hopkins, photo ETTU)
The HYLO ETTU Champions League Men’s Final Four kicked off on Saturday with four of Europe’s elite clubs competing for the continent’s ultimate title. By the end of the day, the field was cut in half as a pair of dominant performances launched the top two teams into Sunday’s Final.
In the early match, FC Saarbrucken TT faced Polish squad KS Orlen Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Saarbrucken was highly favored, and the results are as expected with a 3-0 win. Fan Zhendong won the opening match easily 3-0 over Milosz Redzimski, Patrick Franziska won the second match as easily with a 3-0 win over Marek Badowski, and then Panagiotis fought hard with Truls Moregard with the 3-2 win going to Moregard. The final game was decided by just 2 points, so that one match could have gone either way – but Saarbrucken wins 3-0.
The later match between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds was expected to be close. In the end, it was Alliance Nimes/Montpellier that logged the dominant 3-1 win. Alexis Lebrun defeated Dang Qiu 3-0 to put Montpellier up early. Felix Lebrun won three close games to extend the lead to 2-0. USA’s Kanak Jha defeated Manav Thakar for the only Dusseldorf win. And then Felix Lebrun shut the door with a 3-1 win over Dang Qiu.
The final will be played Sunday afternoon. Fan Zhendong is set to play the first and fourth matches (against Alexis Lebrun and then Felix Lebrun), Trules Moregard will face Felix, and Darko Jorgic will face Antoine Hachard. Saarbrucken is favored slightly, but this match is one upset away from a tight finish. Tune in on Sunday for an update.
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