Gilmour hits her stride early to ease through

Kirsty Gilmour didn’t waste any time as she made a flying start to her defence of the Scottish Open at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow last night.

The No 3 seed from Bellshill won the first two points and never let her lead slip in a comprehensive 21-8, 21-12 victory over England’s Georgina Bland.

Gilmour, the 25-year-old world No 28, now meets Denmark’s Mete Poulsen, a player she has beaten in all six previous meetings. The winner will advance to the quarter-finals.

“I am delighted with tonight’s win,” said Gilmour, who won her Commonwealth silver in the same hall back in 2014. “The crowd is always amazing at the Emirates and there are so many good memories coming back here.”

Inthefirstroundofmixed doubles, Scotland’s Adam Hall and Julie Macpherson staged a terrific fightback to make it into the last 16.

The home pair dropped thefirstgame15-21tocanada’s Nyl Jakura and Kristen Tsai but then took the second and third by the same 21-16 margin.

The reward for the battling 50-minute performance is a match against the No 2 seeds from Germany Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Hettrich.

“It was a bit of a slow start for us, it’s always the same in the first game in a big hall like this,” said Hall.

“Once we got used to the drift we got into the second and third sets and it was a much better performance from us. It was a bit of a battle but we’re just happy to come through it.”

Fellow Scots Alexander Dunn and Eleanor O’donnell were on the wrong end of a tough match. They lost 21-17, 24-22 to Denmark’s Josh Eipe and Mette Poulsen.

Tobypenty,thedefending champion in the men’s singles, had a walkover when Italian Rosario Maddaloni pulled out, while fellowenglishman Raj Ouseph enjoyed a successful return to the court.

The two-time former champion progressed to the second round with a 21-15, 21-12 victory over Ivan Rusev of Bulgaria.