SAO PAULO, Brazil — Canada’s Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter had a career-best fourth-place finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Slam in Brazil after falling to Poland on Saturday in the bronze medal match.
Poland’s 16th-seeded Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak beat the 23rd-ranked Canadian duo from Richmond Hill, Ont. in three sets: 21-19, 18-21 and 15-12.
"It was critical to our confidence that we posted this good result, but we are still left wanting more having missed the podium," said Schachter. "We will surely try to carry this momentum and finish the year strong in our last events."
To get to the bronze medal match, Binstock, a 2012 Olympian, and Schachter had to beat teammates Ben Saxton of Calgary and Chaim Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., in the quarter-finals. Schalk and Saxton finished fifth.
"I’m really proud of how Josh and I competed in this final grand slam tournament and raised our game to the next level," said Schachter. "We haven’t been in this position before so it was a new experience for both of us, and I know personally that I had several learning moments."
On the women’s side, Winnipeg’s Taylor Pischke and Toronto’s Melissa Humana-Paredes also had a career-best grand slam finish in fifth place.