CHRIS SIMPSON agonisingly missed out on the main draw of the ISS Canary Wharf Classic as he lost an epic qualifying final.

The Guernsey star was on court for 93 minutes against world No. 28 Joey Barrington, but lost out in the deciding game.

On the opening day of qualifying, he had overcome South African Jesse Englebrecht 11-8, 11-5, 11-2.

‘I played well in this match and was very pleased to get the game over without too much energy expended,’ said Simpson, who is currently ranked 53 in the world.

‘Although he was the seeded player, I have played him a fair few times and never lost, so I was very confident I could win.’

Having come through that clash unscathed, Barrington was always likely to provide the Sarnian with a much stiffer test and Simpson went 2-0 down.

‘The first two games were very scrappy and I was disappointed with the way I was moving and with my length, so in the third I tried really hard to push forward and take the game to him, attacking at every opportunity,’ he said.