by Simon Daish

Timo Boll put Borussia Düsseldorf ahead early in the tie with a narrow victory over Simon Gauzy (5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7) only for Hugo Calderano to cancel out the home side’s advantage with his four games win against Stefan Fegerl (9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-3) levelling the scores at 1-1.

The pattern continued in the third and fourth fixtures of the match: Düsseldorf’s lead was restored through Kristian Karlsson, who accounted for Jakub Dyjas in straight games (11-2, 11-7, 11-5) but Ochsenhausen hit back once again with Hugo Calderano earning an impressive result against Timo Boll (11-9, 3-11, 13-11, 11-6) to force a deciding encounter.

Carrying the hopes of over 1000 home fans Stefan Fegerl stepped up to the occasion for Düsseldorf, recovering from a game down to beat Simon Gauzy by a three games to one score-line (7-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8) as the hosts prevailed over Ochsenhausen with a superior points ratio over the two legs of the semi-final.

Russian side TTC Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg moves through to its seventh final in the last eight years after the defending champions completed a fine win over Portuguese challengers Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Jun Mizutani got the ball rolling for Orenburg with a decent outing against Diogo Carvalho (11-9, 12-14, 11-4, 11-4) prior to back-to-back wins for Vladimir Samsonov and Alexey Liventsov in their respective encounters with João Monteiro (7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10) and Francisco Silva (11-9, 11-3, 11-3).

Victories for Borussia Düsseldorf and TTC Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg, the two sides will face off for the title for the second year running. Last season the Russian team prevailed but will it be the same outcome in the 2017-2018 season finale?

European Champions League: Results and Fixtures