Gilmour strolls into semi-finals in Glasgow
Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour had an unexpectedly easy day at the Scottish Open as she claimed her place in the semi-finals of the women’s singles at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
The defending champion beat Denmark’s Mette Poulsen in straight games in the second round and then got a bye through the quarter-finals when Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet withdrew through injury.
The Glasgow-based 25-year-old had never lost to Poulsen and, in meeting No 7, she maintained the dominance by a 21-6, 21-18 margin.
“Mette is always a tough opponent and we go way back, we must have started playing each other when we were 12 or 13 in the European junior tournaments,” Gilmour said. “It’s really nice when you open up with a good game like that and things that you want to do seem to link up and come together.”
Elsewhere, there were also victories for No 1 seed Cai Yanyan of China, who beat Julie Dawall Jakobsen 21-17, 21-17, and Danish second seed Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt.
But, while Gilmour is still in contention to retain her crown, England’s 2017 champion, Toby Penty, was knocked out 21-11, 21-19 by France’s Thomas Rouxel.
The reigning champion and No 6 seed was playing his first match of the tournament after having a bye and a walkover in his opening two rounds, so it was a disappointing end to his defence.
In the mixed doubles, Scotland’s Adam Hall and Julie Macpherson were unable to follow up their first-round win, losing 21-16, 21-15 to German second seeds Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich.