Paul Drinkhall suffered an agonising deciding-game defeat in his quarter-final at the WTT Contender Lasko event in Slovenia.

Having defeated world No 7 and top seed Lin Gaoyuan of China in the last 16, Drinkhall would have been confident against the world No 45, Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan.

In a close match, Drinkhall – ranked 13 places below Gerassimenko – twice fought back to level the match, but was edged out 13-11 in the deciding fifth set.

Gerassimenko went on to reach the final, defeating China’s Liu Dingshuo 4-3 in the semis. He will face second seed Liang Jingkun in Sunday’s final.

Result

Men’s Singles
Quarter-finals
Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Paul Drinkhall 3-2 (12-10, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 13-11)