Tom Jarvis missed two match points as he was defeated by Sweden’s Elias Ranefur in the first qualifying round of the WTT Star Contender Doha.

With only three places between the two in the world rankings – Jarvis at No 156 compared with Ranefur at 159 – it was always likely to be a close match.

Jarvis had a fast start and opened 8-4 and 9-6 leads in the first, but the Swede hit back with five points in a row to take it, and three successive points from 8-9 in the second saw him double his advantage.

Jarvis made all the running in the third, converting a 9-2 lead into an 11-5 win, and levelled the match when he recovered from 0-4 down in the fourth to win it 11-7.

Jarvis changed ends 5-3 up in the decider, but it was soon 5-5 and points were swapped up to 9-9. Twice the Englishman engineered a match point, but was not able to take either, and Ranefur seized his first chance, taking the game 13-11 and booking a match against China’s Huang Youzheng (WR86) in the next qualifying round.

Liam Pitchford is also competing in Qatar and is seeded into the main draw. Wales’ Anna Hursey (WR 158) won her opening qualifying match 3-0 against Austria’s Anastasia Sterner (WR 323)

Result

Men’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Elias Ranefur (SWE) bt Tom Jarvis 3-2 (11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 7-11, 13-11)