Tom Jarvis – and his fans – went through a rollercoaster of emotions before he finally beat 10th seed Dang Qiu 4-3 at the ITTF World Championships, having seen a 3-0 lead evaporate.

Not many would have given Jarvis a chance in the last-64 match against the 2022 European champion from Germany, but the Englishman attacked the match from the first point and deserved his victory, though it was a nervy one in the end.

Jarvis (WR 148) took the first game 11-9 – having been 10-3 up and seen the lead whittled away in a precursor of what was to follow.

He added the second by the same score on the second game point, and the third, which he won 11-8, with a run of six points from 7-4 down, put him on the threshold of a momentous victory.

He led the fourth 7-2, trailed 7-8 and led 9-8, only for world No 10 Dang to take three points to get himself on the board.

The fifth was 1-1 and then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, 11-1 to Dang. A run of six successive points in the middle of the sixth help him win it 11-6 to set up a decider.

As if Jarvis didn’t have enough to contend with, he was called for a fault at 1-0 up in the decider. The players traded points to 3-3 and then Jarvis exploded, with six points in a row and seven out of eight with some breathtaking shot-making.

But 10-4 became 10-8, a couple of forehand flicks missed which would have closed it out. Thankfully, wonderfully, the next point belonged to Jarvis and he dropped his bat, covered his face and dashed to embrace Director of Performance Development Gavin Evans in his corner at the end of a match which lasted a few seconds shy of 62 minutes.

In the last 32, Jarvis will play Romania’s Iulian Chirita (WR 95).

Afterwards, Jarvis admitted: “My heart was in my throat at 3-0, and then I got smacked around for two sets. But yeah, to come back strong in the seventh, it was amazing. 

“I knew I just had to try and find what had been working so well in the first three sets. And I knew that if I played my highest quality, then he would have problems. So, I was only trying to think about that and trying to deliver.

“It has been an absolute dream. I’ve been watching the World Championship since like 2009. I used to sit with my brother watching all the matches, and to be part of this is amazing. I was just a little kid from Skegness. I picked up the sport and fell in love with it. If I can do it, you can too!”

Result

Men’s Singles
Round of 64
Tom Jarvis bt Dang Qiu (GER) 4-3 (11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 1-11, 6-11, 11-8)