British number five Brydan Klein has missed out on a place in the final of the Traralgon Challenger after losing to Jordan Thompson.
Klein had been hoping to reach his first second-tier final of the year but he struggled to make a consistent impact against the second seed.
The pair traded breaks at the start of the first set, but Thompson continued to look the stronger of the two and the Australian raced through the rest of the opener.
Klein improved during the second, without creating any more break points, but during the closing stages of the second Thompson struck to complete a 6-2 7-5 triumph.
The 25-year-old will compete in Canberra next week, and a second successive semi-final appearance may be enough to earn him a career-high ranking, which currently stands at 169.
Darren Plant
