Superb Tom Jarvis sinks world No 60 at China Smash

September 25, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

Tom Jarvis picked up a superb win over Liao Cheng-Ting of Chinese Taipei as he got his China Smash campaign under way in Beijing today.

Liao was the second-ranked player in qualifying at 60 – 27 places above Jarvis in the world rankings.

But any notion of the draw being unfavourable was dispelled as Jarvis took the fight to his opponent and won in four games.

The first saw Jarvis go on a run of four points early on and then, from 5-4 up, win the next six to get the first game on the board.

The second was a protracted game which saw both players have chances to win it. Jarvis recovered a three-point deficit and was the first to bring up a game point at 10-9. That one was saved and so, via the timeout taken at 13-12, were three subsequent game points.

Liao had a point to take the game at 14-13 and again at 16-15, either side of Jarvis†fifth chance before, finally, the Englishman got over the line at 18-16.

It looked as if Liao was going to take the third when he won four points from 5-5, but Jarvis fought back to level. However, Liao did get his first game on the board, 11-9.

It seemed as if the momentum had turned as Liao took the first four points of game four, which he also led 7-3. Jarvis hit back to level at 8-8 and 9-9 and then, agonisingly, saw Liao save two match points. But finally, and accompanied by a roar of delight, Jarvis forced a top edge and claimed the game 13-11 to seal victory.

Jarvis will next face Singaporeâ€s Koen Pang (WR 139), who defeated Edward Ly (WR 115) of Canada 3-2 (11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-5).

Result

Menâ€s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Tom Jarvis bt Liao Cheng-Ting (TPE) 3-1 (11-4, 18-16, 9-11 13-11)

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