Tom Jarvis took down Sweden’s Anton Kallberg to set up a tie against a Chinese star at WTT Star Contender Ljubljana.

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Jarvis (WR 62) largely controlled the match against opponent ranked No 33, although he did have to come from 8-6 down in the first after a run of four points by Kallberg.

Jarvis immediately matched than run with four points of his own and took the game on his second game point, 11-9.

Another run of four gave Jarvis an early lead in the second, but Kallberg had hit back to level by 7-7. They swapped the next two points, but the Englishman won the next three double his advantage.

The third was tight until, from 6-5 down, Jarvis put together the best run of the match, taking five points on the spin and going on to win on his second match point.

His victory, as well as giving him important ranking points, set up a match in the last 32 against seventh seed Wen Ruibo (WR 13) of China and it was a tight match as Jarvis went all out to take another notable scalp.

The first saw him take an 8-4 lead with a run of five successive points, and he brought up two game points. Wen saved those, and another at 11-10, before Jarvis took his fourth chance and got the first game on the board.

The second also went to deuce, Jarvis leading 9-6 but then facing a game point. He saved that but Wen won the game 12-10 to level it up.

Wen led the third 4-0 and 7-1 and, although Jarvis whittled it back, had enough in hand to take it 11-8. AT 8-7 down in the fourth, Jarvis was still well in the match, but Wen took the next three points to complete victory.

Sam Walker (WR 152) went out in the first qualifying round, where he met Csaba Andras (WR 73) of Hungary, the 10th seed in that stage of the tournament.

Walker made a slow start as he lost the first game 11-3, but the second was much closer as Walker saved two game points and then missed two of his own before Andras sealed it 14-12.

Walker led the way in the third, pulling ahead to take it 11-6, and he led the fourth 8-5 only for Andras to reel off five points in a row to bring up two match points. Walker saved the first but could not save the second and Andras went through to the second of three qualifying rounds.

The event features 12 of the world’s top 20, including top seed Felix Lebrun (WR 4), his brother Alexis, home favourite Darko Jorgic of Slovenia and world team champion Lin Shidong of China, who is the second seed.

Result

Men’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Csaba Andras (HUN) bt Sam Walker 3-1 (11-3, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9)

Round of 64
Tom Jarvis bt Anton Kallberg (SWE) 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-7)

Round of 32
Wen Ruibo (CHN) bt Jarvis 3-1 (11-13, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7)