Sam Buckley’s hopes of reaching the Simply The Brest final on Sunday were dashed by a narrow 2-3 semi-final loss in France.
The PSA men’s No.122 came up against the No.82 Edward Clain and what unfolded on Saturday evening was a squash thriller in which Buckley outscored his opponent 49 points to 44 but still lost.
Buckley had opportunities to clinch both opening games, leading in each before losing out 11-13 and 9-11.
However, he came through in games three and four with commanding 11-3 and 11-6 scores, leaving everything to play for in game five.
That decider unluckily went the way of the French player 7-11, leaving him to progress to Sunday’s final against his fellow Frenchman Toufik Mekhalfi.
Buckley will now move on to the Richardson Wealth Open in Vancouver, starting with an October 15th match against No.79 Matthew Lai of Hong Kong China.
