Sam Buckley has broken into the PSA top 100 rankings following his exploits last week in France, becoming the first Irish men’s player to do so since Arthur Gaskin a decade ago.
A recent second round Czech Open appearance in Brno, where a convincing 3-0 win over Aly Hussein, the No.103 from Egypt, was followed by a 0-3 exit against Yannick Wilhelmi, the PSA No.45, had lifted Buckley to a career-best No.104, but he has now trumped that achievement with a jump of five places to No.99.
Buckley flew out of the traps at the 5eme Open Lagord last Wednesday, winning 3-1 against Muhammad Asim Khan of Pakistan, who was ranked No.75.
His follow-up match against Yassin Elshafei of Egypt, the No.92, ultimately didn’t go to plan but his 1-3 loss only materialised after he very nearly went 2-0 ahead.
More than enough rankings points were secured at the tournament in France to enable him to break into the top 100 ahead of his next assignment, a round two match next Thursday at the Bern Open in Switzerland.
Conor Moran, who won the Connacht Senior Open on Sunday, has also enjoyed another career-best rankings boost in a year where he started at No.345 last January.
A thrilling run to the recent Swiss Open quarter-finals had moved him from No.149 to No.141, but the latest PSA rankings list published on Monday now has him at No.138. Moran’s three-match campaign in Galway culminated in a 3-1 win in the final over Michael Creaven.
Switching to the women’s circuit, Hannah Craig jumped three places and Breanne Flynn four in the latest update.
Craig, whose career-best is No.61, moved from No.71 to No.68 following her appearance at the Toronto Open, while Flynn, who had an opening round win last week in Andorra, is now at No.115, just 11 places off her career-best No.104.
