(by Steve Hopkins)

With the German League season coming to an end, there is some real pressure on teams pushing to make the end of season final four tournament.  Ochsenhausen and Dusseldorf are both clearly in already with their 16-5 records.  TSV Konigshofen has nearly sealed their position as well – as they are 14-7 and in a strong third position.  The last slot is wide open, as both RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell and FC Saarbrucken currently have 13-8 records.  And making things even more interesting is that Saarbrucken will face Konigshoven next week in the final match of the season for both teams, while Fulda will face a lower-seeded Muhlhausen squad.

Saarbrucken has managed to keep their hopes alive, but they were almost eliminated today by the heroics of USA’s Kanak Jha.  Jha’s team, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt is playing the role of spoiler at this point in the season, as they cannot make the final four.  The opening match was Kanak Jha versus Eduard Ionescu (World No. 57).  The first three games were all tight, with Jha winning 2 of 3.  Jha then closed out the match with a dominant 11-6 win in the fourth.

Next, Bergneustadt’s Romain Ruiz started strong, up 2-1 over Darko Jorgic, before Jorgic mounted a comeback win.  Jorgic fought through a 15-13 marathon in the fourth before closing out the match in the fifth game.  With the match score tied 1-1, it was Partrick Franziska over Adrien Rassenfosse to put Saarbrucken ahead.  And then Kanak Jha beat World No. 13 Darko Jorgic in a tight 3-2 match (12-14, 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9).  Fortunately for Saarbrucken, they have a deeper squad than Bergneustadt, and with Jha unable to play in Doubles there was a strong ranking advantage for Saarbrucken’s Franziska/Ionescu team over Bergneustadt’s Duda/Rassenfosse team.  Saarbrucken won easily 3-0, giving them a chance to finish in the top four.  For American fans, the positive news is that in a match that included three players in the top 25, USA’s Kanak Jha was the player on the court.

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