Beachill Beats Ricketts To Reach Hungarian Open Final

England's Lee Beachill scored one of his best wins of the year when he upset favourite Anthony Ricketts in a five-game marathon semi-final of the Hungarian Open to set up a meeting with Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in the final of the 5-star PSA Tour event in Budapest.

Ricketts, the world No5 from Sydney who has recently relocated to Yorkshire in England, twice stemmed leads by his new Pontefract club-mate.

But after 75 minutes, third seed Beachill celebrated an 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8 victory to reach his first PSA Tour final since losing to Ricketts in the Super Series Finals climax in London in May.

The triumph takes the 28-year-old Englishman, ranked nine in the world, into his 16th Tour final.

By contrast, the other semi-final was wrapped up in just 36 minutes when second seed Gaultier, runner-up in the event for the past two years, despatched Finland's Olli Tuominen, the fourth seed, 11-4, 11-4, 11-2.

Gaultier, the 23-year-old world No7 from Aix-en-Provence, is marking his 17th appearance in a PSA Tour final.

Despite several clashes in England v France internationals, this will be only Beachill and Gaultier's second meeting on the PSA Tour - with the Englishman looking for his first win.

Semi-finals:
[3] Lee Beachill (ENG) bt [1] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8 (75m)
[2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) bt [4] Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 (36m)