Werder Bremen beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 on Wednesday night to close the seventh round of the Tischtennis Bundesliga, ending a run of two defeats and moving above Dortmund into fourth place with 8-6 points. Dortmund, who played without Kristian Karlsson and Anders Lind, have now lost three in a row and drop to sixth.
Kirill Gerassimenko set the tone by beating Cedric Nuytinck 11-3, 14-12, 11-1, saving four game points in the second. "We had problems with the serve returns, they were much better there. That changes the match completely," Nuytinck told Dyn.
Mattias Karlsson, who missed the European Championships after hurting a finger while making his bed, lost the second game 11-1 but otherwise controlled his match against Wim Verdonschot to win 3-1. Irvin Bertrand completed the win with an 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 victory over Joao Geraldo. "It was important for the team to win again after the last defeats," Bertrand said.
Nuytinck said Kristian Karlsson had been in pain for a few months and that Dortmund did not yet know how long he would be out.
