MATT Pearce surged to the top of the touchtennis world rankings by winning the latest Wilson series event at Garon Park.

The title was Pearce’s fifth of the 2014 season.

And the hard-fought triumph also saw the 24-year-old take-over at the top of the standings.

“To be sat top at the top of the rankings for the very first time feels fantastic,” said Pearce, who lives in Thorpe Bay.

“Words just can’t describe that feeling when you compete at something individually and can say you have been the best at it.

“But my goal now is to finish the year as world number one and to also see if I can win the Masters Cup in December, which is for the top 16 players in the world who all battle it out over one day.”

Pearce first took up the sport, which is played on a smaller court to lawn tennis, with softer tennis balls, in the summer of 2012 before starting to take it more seriously the following year.

His first couple of tournaments did not go to plan before he then started to shine on a more regular basis.

“I continued to stick at the sport as I was getting hooked and I won my very first singles title in late May at Kirby Lawn Tennis Club,” he added.

“I ended picking up three singles titles in 2013 which were all worth 300 points to my ranking and I played in a total of 12 events in the year.”

Pearce then built on that success and has been a major force on the circuit this season.

“I’ve won five titles and three of them were 300 points and the other two were masters events which were worth 500, so it’s been going well for me,” said Pearce.

“I also came mighty close to winning my first slam back in June of this year, losing in the All England final, and hopefully I can keep this kind of form going now.”