Champions League Men | 16 Jan 2015
MECL top seed shines in Germany
In the 1st quarter final game of Men`s European Champions League, top seeded Fakel Gazproma Orenburg beat away Sarbrucken 3:0, whilst other two results of the matches held tonight are Bogoria Grodzisk – Wienviertel Niederosterreich 1:3, Chartres – UMMC 3:
In the 1st quarter final game of Men`s European Champions League, top seeded Fakel Gazproma Orenburg beat away Sarbrucken 3:0, whilst other two results of the matches held tonight are Bogoria Grodzisk – Wienviertel Niederosterreich 1:3, Chartres – UMMC 3:1. Last night reigning champion AS Pontoise Cergy defeated Borussia Dusseldorf 3:1.
Russian champion Orenburg is 99 percent into the semis, after 3:0 (9:3) win in Saarbrucken. All three matches took four games and in each host players won opening set.
Vladimir SAMSONOV beat Bojan TOKIC in the first encounter. Slovenian managed to take the opening set after several shifts and missing set balls, while Byelorussian controlled the next three sets.
Host side hoped that Tiago APOLONIA is able to repeat his feat from 2014 Team`s European Championships final, when he overcame Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in the game between Portugal and Germany. But tonight, the best ranked Orenburg`s player prevailed. It could say that the second set (34 points in total) was crucial one, because APOLONIA missed good chance for 2:0 lead.
Alexey SMIRNOV just confirmed his good reputation in MECL as no. 3 player, defeating Adrien MATTENET. Former Euro Top 12 winner has the best percentage of wins in last five years on his position in the line-up.
The 2008 MECL winner, Wienviertel Niederosterreich did nice job in Poland. Austrian side beat Polish champion thanks to well known Chinese defender HOU Yingchao who defeated Pawel FERTIKOWSKI and Korean OH Sang Eun. Third point of the visitors came from Stefan FEGERL who overcame Daniel GORAK in five games.
Two former Top 10 players on ITTF WR list, HOU and OH, showed good table tennis, especially in the opening set which took 34 points in total.
The 2012/13 MECL runner-up Chartres beat UMMC 3:1, but bearing in mind set ratio (9:9), it is not too bad result for Russian club who played without its best player, world`s no 5. Jun MIZUTANI (he went to Japan to play on National Championships of his country).
Grigorij VLASOV brought early advantage in the first clash, beating Robert GARDOS in straight games. But, Alexander SHIBAEV lost both his matches in five games as well as Joao MONTEIRO his encounter against Singaporean GAO Ning.
2014/15 MECL quarter final, leg1
Saarbrucken – Fakel Gazproma Orenburg 0:3
Bojan TOKIC – Vladimir SAMSONOV 1:3 (14:12, 6:11, 7:11, 5:11)
Tiago APOLONIA – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 1:3 (11:9, 16:18, 4:11, 4:11)
Adrien MATTENET – Alexey SMIRNOV 1:3 (11:8, 9:11, 6:11, 4:11)
Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki – Wienviertel Niederosterreich 1:3
OH Sang Eun – Daniel HABESOHN 3:0 (12:10, 11:6, 11:5)
Pawel FERTIKOWSKI – HOU Yingchao 0:3 (4:11, 3:11, 7:11)
Daniel GORAK – Stefan FEGERL 2:3 (12:14, 11:9, 11:9, 6:11, 9:11)
OH Sang Eun – HOU Yingchao 1:3 (16:18, 11:6, 7:11, 6:11)
Chartres ASTT – TTSC UMMC 3:1
Robert GARDOS – Grigorij VLASOV 0:3 (9:11, 6:11, 10:12)
Par GERELL – Alexander SHIBAEV 3:2 (7:11, 11:9, 11:7, 8:11, 11:7)
GAO Ning – Joao MONTEIRO 3:2 (11:8, 11:4, 9:11, 8:11, 11:8)
Robert GARDOS – Alexander SHIBAEV 3:2 (9:11, 12:10, 7:11, 11:6, 13:11)
