One match too far for Arthur Gaskin

Gaskin, in the red, found no way past Clyne

Arthur Gaskin succumbed to his higher-ranked opponent Alan Clyne in straight games this evening. The Carlowman didn’t play badly, but whatever Gaskin threw at Clyne, the Scottish number one had the answer. Trailing by two or three points for most of the match, Gaskin just couldn’t establish and defend a lead. Nonetheless, Arthur did well to make the semis and the crowd were delighted to cheer on their local hero. Alan Clyne will face Englishman Adrian Waller in tomorrow’s final at 4pm. The world number 26 beat Australian Ryan Cuskelly 3:1. Both Clyne and Waller looked in good shape today, so the final promises to be exciting.

In the women’s draw teenage sensation Nouran Gohar beat giant killer Olivia Blatchford in straight games. Blatchford forced a tie-break in the second, but ultimately found no answer to the young Egyptian’s firepower. Gohar, the event’s number four seed, faces two-seed Sarah Kippax in tomorrow’s final. The thirty year-old beat Tesni Evans of Wales, who had beaten Irish number two Aisling Blake in five games yesterday.

Play starts at 3pm tomorrow and will be streamed on aertv.ie as always!