Germany reach Round of 16 after hard-fought 3-0 win over Slovenia

Germany’s 3-0 scoreline over Slovenia looked tidy on paper, but the tie at OVO Arena Wembley was never as calm as the sweep suggested. In the men’s knockout bracket at the centenary ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026, Germany advanced with straight-set wins from Benedikt Duda, Patrick Franziska and Dang Qiu, yet Slovenia forced enough pressure to leave a warning behind the result.

Duda opened with a 11-8, 12-10, 11-7 win over Deni Kožul, and that second game told the real story of the match. Kožul made Germany work early, and the opening point-by-point exchange mattered because it set the tone for a tie that could have tilted if Slovenia had stolen one of the first big moments. Instead, Duda steadied Germany before the contest could become dangerous.

Franziska then had to survive the loudest scare of the afternoon. He edged Darko Jorgić 14-12 in the first game, dropped the second 1-11, then recovered with 11-8, 11-8 victories to close it out. That 1-11 collapse was the clearest sign that Germany were vulnerable if Jorgić found his rhythm, and for a stretch Slovenia looked capable of dragging the tie into a far deeper fight. Franziska’s response kept Germany from losing control of the middle of the matchup, but it also exposed how thin the margin was.

Dang Qiu made the final score look cleaner than the contest felt, beating Bojan Tokić 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 to finish the job. Like Duda, he won in straight games, yet Slovenia kept rallying hard enough to stretch every frame and ask questions point by point. Germany left with the result they wanted, but not the kind of ruthless performance that suggests everything is already clicking.

That matters now because Hong Kong, China await next, and coach Jörg Roßkopf has already made the strategic priority clear: staying fresh through a long tournament is crucial when medals are the target. Germany did preserve energy by avoiding a fourth or fifth match, but they also showed enough volatility in Franziska’s middle-game drift to remind everyone that a 3-0 can hide as much as it reveals. In a bracket that tightens quickly, that kind of wobble can disappear against Slovenia and still become decisive against Hong Kong, China.