(by Steve Hopkins, photo TTBL)
When the two teams met in December, Saarbrucken beat Borussia Dusseldorf 3-2 on the strength of a 3-1 doubles win. Today, the rematch went to Dusseldorf – giving them sole possession of first place and dropping Saarbrucken to third (behind Werder Bremen).
Sunday’s match was in Dusseldorf with 3300 fans in attendance. Saarbrucken started with a 2-0 lead, with Fan Zhendong defeating USA’s Kanak Jha 3-1 and Patrick Franziska topping Dang Qiu 3-1.
Anton Kallberg was first to score a point for the home team, a 3-0 win over Cedric Meissner. Next up was Kanak Jha (No. 23) against Patrick Franziska (No. 22) with Jha logging a strong performance winning two games 11-4, and splitting two close games for the 3-1 win.
With the teams tied 2-2, the decider was doubles. Dang Qiu and Anton Kallberg bested Fan Zhendong and Cedric Meissner 3-1. With the win, Dusseldorf wins the match 3-2.
Dusseldorf and Saarbrucken are two of the final four in the ETTU Champions League as well. Dusseldorf’s squad is largely the same in both leagues. Saarbrucken’s team in the European league event is stronger – with Fan Zhendong, Truls Moregard, Darko Jorgic, and Patrick Franziska all available to play. This time, Dusseldorf has come out on top – but these two teams will face each other many more times in 2026.
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