At the European Table Tennis Championships in Linz there will be a duel in the quarter-finals between the former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov and the currently highest-ranking German player Patrick Franziska. The two-time European champion Ovtcharov (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell) won his round of 16 against the Portuguese Marcos Freitas in 4:2 sets. World number 12 Franziska (1. FC Saarbrücken) beat Croatian Andrej Gacina 4-1.
“We are friends and know each other very well. I am happy that one of us will be in the semi-finals and will definitely have a medal,” said Ovtcharov. At the 2023 World Cup in South Africa he won the bronze medal in doubles together with Franziska.
Defending champion Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf) and his doubles partner Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt) also reached the quarter-finals in Linz on Saturday evening. After his 4-0 win against Spaniard Juan Perez, Duda will face top favorite Felix Lebrun there. The Olympic bronze medalist from France beat the 18-year-old German Andre Bertelsmeier 4-1 in the round of the best 16.