(by Steve Hopkins)
After a league hiatus for the Middle East Hub Events, the final matches in the German Bundesliga were played this weekend and the final four are now set.
Dusseldorf secured their top seed over a month ago, but they coasted to a 3-1 win in their final match anyway. The win may have sent a message, as it was over second place Saarbrucken. The Saarbrucken team is anchored by Patrick Franziska and Darko Jorgic and both players played. It made no difference as Karlsson, Kallberg, and Walther each scored a singles win for the 3-1 victory. The sole loss for Dusseldorf was Timo Boll falling to the fast rising Darko Jorgic (who reached the Semis in the second Doha WTT event).
Saarbrucken and Ochsenhausen were tied, but Saarbrucken held the head to head tie breaker. The loss to Dusseldorf meant that an Ochsenhausen win would mean they’d take over second place. But Ochsenhausen fell to Schwalbe in their final match of the season. Ochsenhausen didn’t play their first or third ranked players (Hugo Calderano and Kanak Jha) today, so they must not have prioritized a second place finish. The teams split in singles, with Gauzy scoring both of the Ochsenhausen wins, but their two young players Kubic and Kulczycki did not log any wins as the team fell 2-3. Saarbrucken and Ochsenhausen will face each other in the playoff.
The other match of importance today was between Grunwettersbach and Muhlhausen. Grunwettersbach was tied with several other teams, but held all of the tie break advantages – so a win meant they seal the fourth and final playoff spot. They won in the singles today with Xi Wang, Dang Qiu, and Dani Kozul logging one win each. grunwettersbach will face Dusseldorf in the playoff.
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