Montreux. At the Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux (February 5th to 8th), Germany will be represented with three players in the semi-finals on Sunday. In the afternoon, Benedikt Duda became the third DTTB representative after Sabine Winter and Ying Han to advance to the semi-finals of the elite tournament worth 125,000 euros and – like his national team colleagues before him – secured his personal ticket for the World Cup in Macau at the end of March. The German Table Tennis Association is therefore guaranteed to take part in the final: In the semi-finals at 10 a.m., as in the previous year, there will be a duel between Europe’s number one Winter and defending champion Han. At 11:20 a.m. Duda will face three-time Europe Top 16 winner Darko Jorgic from Slovenia.
Another proof of strength for Duda
Sixteen months after his second place at the European Championships in Linz, Benedikt Duda has now impressively underlined his affiliation with Europe’s top at the Europe Top 16 Cup. The 31-year-old, currently number 14 in the world, reached the semi-finals for the first time in his second tournament participation with a 3-1 win over Marcos Freitas. The first two sets of a high-class duel were particularly hard-fought against the Portuguese European Games finalist, who had defeated the top-seeded Swede Truls Möregardh the day before. Duda only equalized to 1-1 after defending several set points, after he missed his own chances to take the lead in the opening half. In sets three and four, the Europe Smash semi-finalist clearly took control.
Duda challenges Jorgic in his living room
After reaching the semi-finals, Duda said: “Marcos was a very strong opponent today. He has very good serves and is playing much better than in the past few months. Winning the second set was of course important and at the same time a certain compensation for the unnecessarily lost first round. I had him quite well under control in the third and fourth sets.”
In the semi-finals on Sunday at 11:20 a.m., Duda will face an opponent who won the Europe Top 16 Cup three times in a row from 2022 to 2024: “The semi-final against Darko will be difficult. Montreux is something like his living room: He has already won three times in this hall and has performed very confidently so far this year. I won our last duel in January, but he is certainly eager for revenge.” France’s stars Félix and Alexis Lebrun will then face each other in the second semi-final.
Second five-set win for Ying Han
After yesterday’s 3-2 round of 16 win in the German duel with 19-year-old young player Annett Kaufmann (Kolbermoor), defending champion Ying Han also moved into the semi-finals today with another hard-fought five-set win over Fu Yu. The quarter-final game against the experienced Portuguese was already considered a difficult test: Fu Yu even prevailed against the defensive strategist in the final of the European Games in Minsk in 2019. The Düsseldorf native, who plays for the multiple Polish Champions League winner Tarnobrzeg, said after the quarter-finals: “I won most of the games against her. I didn’t expect her to be so strong today – she made practically no easy mistakes. However, I remained patient. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals again and to have qualified for the World Cup.” Bernadette Szöcs (Romania) and 2024 winner Jia Nan Juan (France) will face each other in the second semifinal.
Open semi-final against Sabine Winter
The Europe Top 16 winner of 2022, 2023 and 2025 sees the semi-final against her national team colleague Sabine Winter, which was decided in favor of Ying Han last year, as completely open: “I would of course like to win again, but this time it will be even more difficult against Sabine. She has gotten better. And I am playing well, but not quite as well as I did last time in January.” At the WTT Champions in Doha, the defensive ace reached the semi-finals with a victory over world number two Wang Manyu (China).
Winter in the Top 16 semi-finals for the third time
Sabine Winter from Dachau was the first from the DTTB trio to reach the semi-finals for the third time today after 2017 and 2025, which also gave her direct qualification for the World Cup in Macao. Europe’s number one defeated the Spanish Maria Xiao, who had previously beaten last year’s finalist Elisabeta Samara (Romania), 12:14, 11:6, 11:4 and 11:9. The relief was written all over Winter’s face after the match point was converted: “I was a bit relieved when the victory was secured. I lost the first set a bit unnecessarily and even after that, despite being clearly in the lead, I never felt completely safe – in the fourth set they got even closer to 7:8. I’m now happy that I’ve reached the semi-finals again at a top European tournament. You don’t get the opportunity to do that too often.”
Six Germans were eliminated in the round of 16 yesterday
Xiaona Shan and Annett Kaufmann were eliminated in the round of 16, losing to Winter and Han in duels within the national team. Dang Qiu, Patrick Franziska, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Nina Mittelham also missed out on a place in the quarterfinals.
The quarter-finals of the Germans
Sabine Winter GER – Maria Xiao ESP 3:1 (-12,6,4,9)
Ying Han GER – Fu Yu POR 3:2 (8,-6,8,-5,4)
Benedikt Duda GER – Marcos Freitas BY 3:1 (-12,15,7,7)
Links
The results on Saturday, February 7th
Men, quarterfinals
Benedikt Duda GER – Marcos Freitas BY 3:1 (-12,15,7,7)
Darko Jorgic SLO – Tomislav Pucar CRO 3:0 (4,8,7)
Felix Lebrun FROM – Anders Lind DEN 3:0 (8,7,5)
Alexis Lebrun FROM – Simon Gauzy FROM 3:2 (-7,11,-10,2,12)
Women, quarterfinals
Sabine Winter GER – Maria Xiao ESP 3:1 (-12,6,4,9)
Ying Han GIVES – Fu Yu POR 3:2 (8,-6,8,-5,4)
Bernadette Szöcs ROU – Charlotte Lutz FRA 3:1 (7,-4,8,5)
Sofia Polcanova AUT – Jia Nan Yuan FROM 0:2 (-17,-4,-4)
The games on Sunday, February 8th
Women, semi-finals
Sabine Winter GER – Ying Han GIVES 10 O `clock
Bernadette Szöcs ROU – Jia Nan Yuan FRA 10:40 Uhr
Men, semi-finals
Benedikt Duda GER – Darko Jorgic SLO 11:20 a.m
Felix Lebrun FROM – Alexis Lebrun FROM 12 Uhr
Damen, Finale
14 o’clock
Gentlemen, Final
3 p.m
The men’s peloton
Truls Möregardh SWE
Alexis Lebrun FROM
Félix Lebrun FROM
Darko Jorgic SLO
Benedikt Duda GER
Patrick Franziska GER
Dang Qiu GER
Dimitrij Ovtcharov GER
Anton Källberg SWE
Anders Lind THE ONE
Simon Gauzy FROM
Jonathan Growth DEN
Marcos Freitas BY
Eduard Ionescu ROU
Tomislav Pucar CRO (Qualifier)
Alvaro Robles ESP (Qualifikant)
The women’s peloton
Sabine Winter GER
Sofia Polcanova AUT
Bernadette Szöcs ROU
Ying Han GIVES
Jia Nan Yuan FROM
Elizabeta Samara ROU
Prithika Pavade FRA
Jieni Shao POR
Nina Mittelham GER
Linda Bergström SWE
Fu Yu POR
Maria Xiao ESP
Natalia Bajor POL
Xiaona Shan GER
Annett Kaufmann GER (qualifier)
Charlotte Lutz FRA (qualifier)
The DTTB squad at the Europe Top 16 Cup
Herren
Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf), Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt), Patrick Franziska (1. FC Saarbrücken-TT), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell)
Damen
Sabine Winter (TSV Dachau), Ying Han (KTS Tarnobrzeg, Poland), Nina Mittelham (ttc berlin eastside), Xiaona Shan (ttc berlin eastside), Annett Kaufmann (SV DJK Kolbermoor)
Trainer
Tamaro Boros (women’s national coach), Jörg Roßkopf (men’s national coach), Zoltan Batorfi (assistant women’s national coach)
Physiotherapists
Birgit Schmidt, Annette Zischka
referee
Christoph Geiger
date: 2026-02-07 22:07:00