Connor Green turned in two incredible performances to earn a place in the main draw at the WTT Feeder Manchester today – and a tie against Tom Jarvis in the last 32.

Having defeated a player ranked almost 400 places higher in the first qualifying round, Green (pictured above, photo by Pawel Meryn) thrilled the crowd with a composed, controlled and clever performance to beat Eric Jouti of Brazil.

Jouti was the highest-ranked player in qualifying, at No 142 in the world – a colossal 557 places above Green, who is at No 699.

Having taken the first 14-12, Green bounced back from losing the second 11-6 to take the next two 11-9, 12-10, and his ability to remain calm and focused was never better illustrated than by winning four points in a row from 10-8 down in the fourth.

Green’s reward is a tie against Tom Jarvis, who beat Green 4-2 on the way to winning the national title in Nottingham last year – remarking afterwards how impressed he had been with his young opponent.

Want to know more about Connor’s table tennis journey? Watch our TT Insider special, Red, Black, Green on TTE.TV

The win over Jouti was Green’s second confident and aggressive display of the day as, in the first session, he dominated Daniele Pinto (WR 312).

After taking the first 11-4, Green faced his only moment of real difficulty at 6-1 down in the second, but once he had overcome that, the result was never in doubt. It was Green’s first victory in the WTT senior ranks, on his second appearance, and was later to be followed by his second of the day against Jouti.

Also in the Men’s Singles, there was no fairytale for Ben Piggott on his senior WTT debut, against Italy’s Jordy Piccolin (WR 258).

Piggott, currently ranked at 820, was by his own admission a little nervous in the first, but he led the second 8-6 and later saved two game points before losing it 12-10. With the momentum behind him, Piccolin ran through the third.

Curiously, the top eight-ranked players in men’s qualifying were all eliminated – among the eye-catching scorelines was Park Gyeongtae (KOR) defeating Tomas Polansky (CZE) 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-4, 12-10).

Earlier, the honour of the first winner of a WTT match on English soil belonged to Ji Eunchae of South Korea, who defeated Spain’s Elvira Rad 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-8) in the Women’s Singles.

England’s Tianer Yu (WR 600) was the first host nation player on court and she was up against Isa Cok of France (WR 244).

Yu was competitive but Cok always looked in control as she advanced to the second qualifying round.

The other notable performance from a Home Nations athlete was from Jersey’s Hannah Silcock, who won 3-1 after losing the first game to Malamatenia Papadimitriou 11-0.

The Greek athlete is ranked 203 places higher than Silcock at 383, but Silcock turned it around, winning the second 11-7 and then taking a crucial timeout at 17-16 in the third – winning the next point and going on to take the fourth 11-8.

She next faced Debora Vivarelli (WR 139) of Italy, which proved a bridge too far as she was beaten 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-6).

Among the other notable scores was a 3-2 (15-13, 11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 13-11) win for Margo Degraef (BEL) over Bernadett Balint of Hungary.

England results

Women’s Singles
Qualifying round one
Isa Cok (FRA) bt Tianer Yu (ENG) 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-9)

Men’s Singles
Qualifying round one
Connor Green bt Daniele Pinto (ITA) 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-5)
Jordy Piccolin (ITA) bt Ben Piggott (ENG) 3-0 (11-3, 12-10, 11-1)

Qualifying round two
Green bt Eric Jouti (BRA) 3-1 (14-12, 6-11, 11-9, 12-10)