Tom Jarvis has been knocked out of the China Smash men’s singles in Beijing after Germany’s Benedikt Duda won their last-64 contest in five games.
Table Tennis England reported that Duda, listed at world No 37, beat the England player 3-2 in a match decided in the fifth game. Jarvis, listed at No 46, twice recovered from difficult positions to take games, but could not overturn Duda’s fast start in the decider.
The result ends Jarvis’s singles campaign at the WTT event. Table Tennis England said English involvement in the singles draws is now over, although doubles contests are still to be played.
Jarvis takes an extended opening game
The opening game provided an early indication of how closely contested the match would be. Jarvis trailed 8-5 but worked his way back to create a game point at 10-9.
According to Table Tennis England, Duda saved that chance and two further opportunities followed before Jarvis eventually secured the game 14-12. The England player had therefore converted a deficit into a one-game lead against the higher-ranked German.
Duda responded in the second. From 5-3 up, the German won six consecutive points and went on to level the match 11-3. That run shifted the balance after Jarvis’s strong finish to the first game and left the contest level heading into the middle phase.
Jarvis then produced another recovery in the third. He was 5-8 behind before winning five of the next six points to move 10-8 ahead. He took the game 11-9, restoring his lead and putting himself one game from the next round.
Those two comebacks ensured that Jarvis took Duda the full distance. The official result recorded a 12-14, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6 scoreline in Duda’s favour, underlining how the match changed direction across its five games.
The scoreline showed that neither player held a two-game advantage before the decider. Jarvis’s 14-12 first-game win and 11-9 success in the third were answered by Duda’s 11-3 second game and 11-9 fourth. The fifth game was also the only one decided by more than two points, as Duda’s 11-6 win completed the last-64 result.
Duda takes control in the deciding game
The fourth game was similarly tight but went Duda’s way. Jarvis won the first five points, only for Duda to respond with five in succession and draw level. Duda then took the game 11-9 on his second game point to force a decider.
That sequence was significant because Jarvis had again created a clear early advantage, but Duda prevented him from carrying it through to the finish. With the match level at two games each, the German made the stronger start to the fifth.
Table Tennis England reported that Duda won five of the first six points of the deciding game. He later put together another run of five points to move 10-4 ahead, before completing the victory on his third match point.
The decider was the only game in which Duda established a sizeable late lead. By contrast, the first, third and fourth games all featured substantial shifts in momentum, with Jarvis recovering in the opening and third games and Duda overturning Jarvis’s 5-0 start in the fourth.
Singles run ends in Beijing
The China Smash is being held in Beijing, and Jarvis’s meeting with Duda came in the men’s singles last 64. The ranking positions cited by Table Tennis England placed Duda nine places above Jarvis going into the match.
That gap did not produce a one-sided contest: Jarvis took two games, pushed the opener to 14-12 and made substantial recoveries in both the first and third games. However, Duda’s response to Jarvis’s fourth-game burst and his early advantage in the fifth proved enough to settle the match.
For the England contingent, the outcome brings the singles programme in Beijing to a close. Table Tennis England said doubles contests remain, while Jarvis and Connor Green are listed to play China’s Chen Junsong and Zhou Qihao in the men’s doubles round of 32.