Semi-final finish in Porto for Tom Jarvis – Table Tennis England

Both Tom Jarvis and Anna Hursey entered the 2025 WTT Feeder Vila Nova De Gaia with high expectations, with Jarvis being the fourth seed in the men’s singles behind Cho Daesong, Kay Stumper and Alvaro Robles. Hursey was the top seed in the women’s singles, more than ten spots higher than second seed Lea Rakovac and third seed Maria Xiao. Connor Green who entered the event as a wildcard was given a place in the main draw, avoiding the very difficult four-player group stage and also one round of the qualifying draw. Tin Tin Ho was also in action, starting her campaign in the main draw. Ho and Green were also in the field along with Jarvis and Hursey for the Mixed Doubles event and both pairs would be in the qualifying draw.

It was youngster Connor Green who was the first to leave the competition, when he took on qualifier Frane Kojic. The experienced Croatian defeated England’s rising star 3-0 (3,5,8) to end Green’s singles competition in Porto.

Green, along with partner Tin Tin Ho, had more success in the Mixed Doubles competition, finishing fourth in qualifying, as they started their competition against Argentinian duo Santiago Lorenzo and Camilla Arguelles and came out on top 3–1 after dropping the first end. However, Jarvis and Hursey exited at the same stage when they lost to South Korea’s Kim Gaon and You Yerin in three consecutive matches. Green and Ho then took out the Japanese couple Kobayashi and Takea beautifully, without letting up an end.

Their reward was a match against fourth seed and experienced Italian XD pair John Oyebode and Gaia Monfardini, where once again the newly formed English pair came out on top. This time with a very positive score of 3-1, closing the win 11-9 in the fourth. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make it to the semi-finals as they lost to fellow qualifiers, See Jungwon and Heo Yerim of South Korea.

In the Women’s Singles, top seed Hursey knocked out both Wegrzyn sisters from Poland 3-0 each on her way to reaching the quarter-finals, where she was stopped 3-1 by South Korea’s Heo Yerim. Yerim, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the World Youth Girls Singles, is just two places above Hursey, who is ranked fourth in the world in the junior category. However, Yerim is ranked much lower in the senior category, with a Senior World ranking of 149, compared to Hursey’s 54.

Tin Tin Ho took on qualifier Mariana Santa competing on home soil, and it was Ho who came out on top, ending Santa’s run 3-0. Tin Tin continued her strong run of results by beating 12th seed Laura Watanabe of Brazil 3-1 to reach the round of 16. Ho’s impressive win streak came to an end at this stage, at the hands of Korean Byun Seoyoung, on WTT debut, despite taking the first end, the South Korean recovered to take the next three points. Impressive competition from England’s number one who is currently ranked 270th in the world, beating world number 118 Watanabe and has a long list of impressive mixed doubles results.

Ho also took part in the Women’s Doubles competition, partnering Swiss Rachael Moret. The pair reached another quarter-final, beating Koshkumbayeva & Mirkadirova (KAZ) and Vega & Rios (CHI) on their way to the quarter-finals, where they held the lead over Polish duo Wieglos & Bajor, before the much higher-ranked duo took three consecutive finishes (9,8,9) to reach the semi-finals and unfortunately handed Ho her second defeat in the doubles quarter-final of the event.

Jarvis, who entered the competition ranked 78th in the world, was seeded fourth and was drawn into the top half of the main draw, where he started and received a bye in the first round before kickstarting his campaign with a win over Guilherme Teodoro (WR 141). Teodoro knocked out well-known defender Yang Wang in the opening round. Jarvis defeated the Italian Niagol Stoyanov over four games to reach the quarter-finals.

His opponent for the quarter-final was none other than Portuguese legend Marcos Freitas, who was competing on home soil and would look to take revenge for England’s recent victory over Portugal at the European Team Championships, a match in which he was unable to participate due to injury. It was the Portuguese number 99 in the world rankings who struck first and took a 2-0 lead. It looked like it would be Freitas who would advance to the semi-finals before Tom launched an inspired comeback. Jarvis took the next two games on both deuce, 13-11 and 12-10, before taking his momentum and putting the match to bed with an emphatic 11-3 on the fifth score.

Jarvis then took on another Portuguese opponent in the semi-finals, this time in the form of Joao Geraldo, who defeated Jarvis at the European Team Championships in Zadar and forced a decider between England and Portugal just weeks earlier. Geraldo raced into the lead, storming to a 6-0 lead in the second, before Jarvis asserted his dominance in the match by taking the second 14-12 and the third 11-5. Jarvis again led 2–1, a similar story to Zadar, before Geraldo hit back to force a fifth and final end, and one that saw the Portuguese national champions win 11–5. Geraldo went on to win the men’s singles competition with a win over Spaniard Alvaro Robles 3–1 in the final.