Round 2 of Men`s European Champions League brought four out of five 3:0 wins and one of them is surprisingly hard Borussia`s loss at Chartres. The same victory belonged to reigning champion Orenburg at Biberach, UMMC at Saarbrucken and Pontoise at Eslov. ,
Round 2 of Men`s European Champions League brought four out of five 3:0 wins and one of them is surprisingly hard Borussia`s loss at Chartres. The same victory belonged to reigning champion Orenburg at Biberach, UMMC at Saarbrucken and Pontoise at Eslov. Werder Bremen took very important points playing away game against Hennebont. 2012/13 finalist Chartres is unique winning home team tonight.
In the reprise of 2012/13 semis, Chartres AS TT again beat ten times European champion Borussia Dusseldorf, this time losing just three sets in Round 2 Group D. Last year at France, GAO Ning took two points with total set ratio 6:0 (against Timo BOLL and Patrick BAUM), but tonight he overcame Indian Kamal ACHANTA harder than he expected, playing five sets of opening encounter.
After confident start (7:0, 11:3 in first set) Singaporean lost second 11:1. In third one he missed set ball (10:9, 10:12) as ACHANTA led 2:1 in sets. In next two sets world`s no. 17 managed to play his usual game and it was enough to provide the starting lead for Chartres.
It was questions will six times European individual champion Timo BOLL play or not at Chartres, due to his injury at the beginning of the season. He decided to play and lost in four games from Par GERELL who was very concentrated in opening 32-points long set. German missed three set balls (last one he had on 15:14). Actual world`s no. 5 leveled in next set, but Swede took last two (in third 1:3, 6:3, 6:6, 9:6).
Robert GARDOS concluded this clash, defeating two times European vice-champion Patrick BAUM in straight games. Austrian made decisive step in first set when he managed to recover after 5:1 lead of German. Guest also had 7:5 in second, but host answered with three consecutive points.
Russian champion UMMC confirmed his big ambition in this season at Saarbrucken, where they lost just three sets against German side. These two teams played very exciting 2011/12 semis (SMIRNOV beat TOKIC in decisive game of rematch to secure final for UMMC), but tonight Saarbrucken had no chance to avoid the hard loss. Former European vice-champion TAN Ruiwu beat Slovenian Bojan TOKIC in opening clash, as UMMC`s newcomer Jun MIZUTANI did main job against Bastian STEGER in straight sets. German missed four set balls in total first, losing both long sets (16:14 first, 15:13 third).
Tiago APOLONIA was twice one set up, but lost from Alexander SHIBAEV. In last, fifth set, Russian saved match ball (9:10, 12:10) to secure win for his side.
Last season`s semi finalist AS Pontoise Cergy had successful trip to Sweden, beating Eslov in straight games. Eslov`s best player in first two rounds, Robert SVENSSON had close opening match against Marcos FREITAS, but Portuguese took crucial third set (14:12) and won in four games. Former Charleroi`s WANG Jian Jun had an easy job against Kasper STERNBERG, whilst Kristian KARLSSON secured victory for French side, defeating Mattias OVERSJO in five games
Reigning champion Fakel Gazproma Orenburg showed his class at Biberach. Vladimir SAMSONOV & Company beat 2009 MECL finalists in superb style. “Mr. ECL” opened the game by confident win against Russian Kirill SKACHKOV, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV allowed to young Englishman Liam PITCHFORD just opening set, and, finally, the best no. 3 MECL player for years Alexey SMIRNOV overcame 2004 Olympic champion RYU Seung Min in four sets.
Werder Bremen managed to recover after surprising loss from Walter Wels in Round 1 game at home. “The Greens” won away game at Hennebont, despite world`s no. 7 CHUANG Chih Yuan lost from Dmitrij PROKOPCOV in second match. CHEH Chien-An and Andrian CRISAN met in first very exciting encounter. After several upside-downs Romanian won fifth set 11:0! CIOTI brought new lead for Werder defeating promising ROBINOT in four sets. CHEH lost in straight games from CHUANG who saved two set balls in third set. It was last chance for Hennebont.
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GROUP A
Ochsenhausen – Orenburg 0:3
Kirill SKACHKOV – Vladimir SAMSONOV 0:3 (7:11, 7:11, 8:11)
Liam PITCHFORD – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 1:3 (11:9, 6:11, 10:12, 7:11)
RYU Seung Min – Alexey SMIRNOV 1:3 (9:11, 11:5, 7:11, 12:14)
GROUP B
Eslov AI – AS Pontoise Cergy 0:3
Robert SVENSSON – Marcos FREITAS 1:3 (8:11, 11:9, 12:14, 5:11)
Kasper STERNBERG – WANG Jian Jun 0:3 (6:11, 5:11, 8:11)
Mattias OVERSJO – Kristian KARLSSON 2:3 (11:4, 5:11, 10:12, 11:6, 2:11)
Saarbrucken – UMMC 0:3
Bojan TOKIC – TAN Ruiwu 1:3 (7:11, 11:1, 9:11, 9:11)
Bastian STEGER – Jun MIZUTANI 0:3 (14:16, 3:11, 13:15)
Tiago APOLONIA – Alexander SHIBAEV 2:3 (11:6, 4:11, 13:11, 5:11, 9:11)
GROUP C
Hennebont – Werder Bremen 1:3
CHEH Chien-An – Adrian CRISAN 2:3 (14:16, 11:7, 11:7, 6:11, 0:11)
Dmitrij PROKOPCOV – CHUANG Chih Yuan 3:2 (11:8, 11:7, 1:11, 8:11, 12:10)
Quentin ROBINOT – Constantin CIOTI 2:3 (11:9, 6:11, 6:11, 11:7, 6:11)
CHEH Chien-An – CHUANG Chih Yuan 0:3 (7:11, 4:11, 12:14)
GROUP D
Chartres – Borussia 3:0
GAO Ning – Kamal ACHANTA 3:2 (11:3, 1:11, 10:12, 11:8, 11:6)
Par GERELL – Timo BOLL 3:1 (17:15, 7:11, 11:7, 11:8)
Robert GARDOS – Patrick BAUM 3:0 (12:10, 11:9, 11:8)
