Ella Pashey, Joseph Hunter, David McBeath, Felix Thomis and Jersey’s Hannah Silcock all picked up superb victories on day one of the WTT Star Contender London.

With good support from the crowd, a number of other English players, many of them Juniors experiencing this level for the first time, acquitted themselves well against higher-ranked opponents.

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How to follow

Every match on every table will be streamed on the WTT YouTube channel, with a swathe of English players featuring on day one as qualifying gets under way.

With some of the best players in the world in the main draw starting on Thursday, there’s everything to play for!

We’ll also be providing regular updates every day on Instagram and Facebook.

Photos by Michael Loveder.

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8pm: Sienna Jetha took the first game and saved four match points against France’s Audrey Zarif, ranked more than 700 places above her at No 138 in the world. The youngster had waited a long time to get on court and had good support, which ramped up when she took the first 11-5. Zarif upped the quality and won the next three 11-5, 11-7, 13-11 – she was 10-7 up in the fourth before finally taking her fifth match point.

7.40pm: David McBeath could not repeat his fine win of this morning but went close against Rafael de las Heras of Spain (WR 203). It was the archetypal see-saw match and McBeath admitted both players struggled against the other’s serve at times as it finished 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7) to the Spaniard.

6.40pm: Mari Baldwin had a tough task against world No 157 Leana Hochart of France, who never allowed her a foothold in the match and went on to win it 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-8).

5.50pm: Hannah Silcock of Jersey caused a big surprise as she knocked out world No 143 Debora Vivarelli of Italy for the biggest win of her career. Silcock went 2-0 up and held two match points in the fourth but it went to a decider. She admitted she had been nervous on those match points, but it didn’t show as she won the fifth to 6, completing a 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6).

5.45pm: Jasmin Wong took on Tsai Yun-En (WR 164) of Chinese Taipei and matched her opponent, only to miss out in three close games – 12-10, 11-9, 12-10.

5.40pm: Joseph Hunter took on the top-ranked player in qualifying, Japan’s Ryoichi Yoshiyama, in the second qualifying round – and when he won the first game 11-8 against the world No 75, a colossal upset was on the cards. But Yoshiyama’s quality came to the surface as he took the next three 5, 6, 3.

2pm: Max Radiven saved five game points against Remi Betelu of France, as their first game went to 14-12 in favour of the Frenchman (WR 167) – Radiven had a game point at 11-10. Betelu exerted his class over the next two games, which he took 11-3 and 11-6.

1.35pm: Jakub Piwowar was up against one of the world’s best defenders in Ruwen Filus of Germany, now ranked 418 but who has been much higher. It was a tough task and Piwowar was unable to string enough points together as he was defeated 3-0 (11-5, 11-2, 11-8), though he did save three match points.

1.30pm: Abraham Sellado went toe-to-toe with South Korea’s Ho Jeongmun (WR 424) as he made light of the 600+ difference in rankings. Sellado was only behind after the first point of the first game and three points in a row from 5-5 helped him go on to take it 11-9. Ho hit back 11-6 in the second but the third was the pivotal game as Sellado had five game points and saved a couple too before Ho won it 18-16. The fourth was 11-6 to Ho, though Sellado did save three match points.

1pm: Ella Pashley (WR 908) notched her maiden win at this level on her debut appearance, taking the showcourt by storm to defeat WR 525 Mille Stoffregen of Denmark 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-3).

12.45pm: Kacper Piwowar gave a good account of himself after initial nerves against Ho Kwan Kit (WR 166) of Hong Kong. The first game was lost 11-2, but he kept pace throughout the second, losing it 13-11 – he didn’t have any game points. Ho closed it out 11-6 in the third.

12.30pm: David McBeath recorded an emphatic victory over Luxembourg’s Mael Van Dessel to move into the second qualifying round. McBeath (WR 986) conceded only 11 points in beating the world No 360 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-2).

12.05pm: Anna Green’s hopes were brought to an end by Romania’s Elena Zaharia (WR 197), though Green (WR 808), the first English woman in action today, fought back from losing the first 11-3 to level the match with an almost as emphatic 11-4 scoreline. Zaharia edged the third 11-9 and closed it out 11-7 in the fourth.

11.45: Felix Thomis won the battle of the English left-handers by the incredible scoreline of 17-15 in the fifth. Thomis had every match point as he fought back from 8-2 down in the decider to win 3-2 (13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 3-11, 17-15) – the match lasted almost 44 minutes.

11.20: Andrew Baggaley said it was fine margins in his defeat to Filip Zeljko of Croatia (WR 197) as the World No 461 was beaten 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 13-11).

11am: Larry Trumpauskas, competing in his home city, took a game off Wong Qi Shen (WR 217) of Malaysia, levelling his match at 1-1 before his opponent turned up the heat to win 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 11-2).

10.55am: Great comeback by Mia Griesel of Germany to beat Kong Tsz Lam of Hong Kong 3-2 (13-15, 12-14, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4).

10.30am: One match into London’s first ever WTT event and the first player to notch a victory was . . . England’s Joseph Hunter.

Unranked Hunter was up against Abdulbasit Abdulfatai (WR 201) of Nigeria and, after losing the first two points of the match, went on an astonishing run, losing only one more all game. He was 3-2 down but won the next nine points and then won the first five of game two, and eight of the first nine as he took it 11-5.

The third saw Abdulfatai take a 9-5 lead, but Hunter stormed back to lead 10-9. He missed that match point, and a subsequent one, before saving a game point. Two more match points came and went before Hunter got over the line 16-14 – quite a result in his first match at this level.