Tom Jarvis was defeated by Germany’s Kay Stumper in his first match at WTT Star Contender Astana in World Championships 2027 host nation Kazakhstan.

Jarvis (WR 46) headed to the Kazakh capital searching for world ranking points and was seeded 15th, meaning he started in the round of 32.

His opponent Stumper (WR 126) came through qualifying and came from 2-0 down to defeat Japan’s Yuta Tanaka (WR 94) in the round of 64.

Against an opponent in good form, Jarvis started well and was never behind in the first game, which he took 11-9 on his second game point. However, Stumper hit back to win the next two, clinching the third 11-7 on a run of five successive points.

Jarvis had picked up a yellow card at the end of the third, but led through most of the fourth. His opponent hit back from 9-5 down to level at 9-9, via a Jarvis timeout at 9-8 – but the English No 1 took the next two points to send the match to a decider.

It was Stumper who made the better start, leading 6-2 after a run of four points. Jarvis won three points to prompt the German to take his timeout, and it did the trick as, after sharing the next two points, he then won four in a row to clinch the match.

Follow the event on the WTT YouTube channel.

Jarvis is joined in Astana by Wales’ Anna Hursey (WR 36), who is seeded 12th. She faced Russia’s Arina Slautina (WR 173) in the round of 32, saving one game point in the second on her way to a 3-0 (11-3, 12-10, 11-4). She next faced eighth seed Qin Yuxuan of China, who won 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7).

Both Jarvis and Hursey will head further east after the Star Contender – they are playing the China Smash in Beijing, which starts on 1 October.

Result

Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Kay Stumper (GER) bt Tom Jarvis 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6)