(by Steve Hopkins)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen started the 22/23 season with a 3-0 win over TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell. A year ago, Fulda finished third – a few spots ahead of Ochsenhausen. Simon Gauzy started things off for Ochsenhausen with a 3-0 win over Fan Bo Meng. Kanak Jha then topped World No. 15 Quadri Aruna 3-0. Ochsenhausen’s new edition, Alvaro Robles, then defeated Alexandre Cassin 3-2 to close out the match.
The new look TTC Neu Ulm team started their year off with a win as well. New Ulm still had last year’s strongest player, Lev Katsman – but the team they fielded on Sunday was bolstered with Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Truls Moregard. Ovtcharov started things off with a win over Ricardo Walther 3-2. Moregard dominated his match over Xi Wang 3-0. Lev Katsman fell to Tiago Apolonia putting ASV Grunwettersbach on the board. But Dimitrij Ovtcharov closed the door with a 3-0 win over Xi Wang.
Last year’s league winner, Borussia Dusseldorf logged a 3-0 win over Muhlhausen. Anton Kallberg, Kay Stumper and Timo Boll each won their matches (over Habesohn, Ionescu, and Mengel respectively). The other two teams to start the season with a win are Schwalbe Bergneustadt and Werder Bremen. Saarbrucken – the second best team a year ago – will face Zugbrucke Grenzau later this week.
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