Kirsty reaches Barcelona semi-final

Kirsty Gilmour reached the semi-finals of the Barcelona Spanish Masters with a superb win over Japan’s world No.13 Sayaka Takahashi.

In some stifling Spanish heat it took Scotland’s No.1 almost an hour to overcome her opponent.

Gilmour, seeded sixth, trailed the Japanese second seed for most of the first game before a run of 10 straight points saw her overturn a 16-11 deficit and take the game 21-16.

Takahashi came back strongly in the second, racing into a 4-0 lead and winning 21-11 but the third was a different story.

Gilmour was always in control, maintaining her lead throughout to take victory 21-15 on her first match point and speaking afterwards she said:

“I’m really happy with how today went. I told myself to focus in on being solid in the first set because I knew I could get it back and that worked really well.

“Then she came out strong in the second. I found some energy in my legs for the third set and managed to find some good feeling in the hall.

“It’s difficult with it being so hot, it’s another element to contend with, but so far so good.”

But the semi-final was the end of the line for Gilmour in Barcelona as Minatsu Mitani, another Japanese player proved to be a step too far.

Although unseeded, Mitani was always going to be a formidable opponent having ousted Thailand’s fourth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong in the first round and Spanish eighth seed Beatriz Corrales in the quarter-finals.

Against Gilmour the Japanese player won 21-15 21-16 before going on to win the final 9-21 23-21 21-8 over Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark.

Adam Hall and Julie MacPherson were knocked out of the mixed doubles quarter-finals 21-17 21-13 by Denmark’s former European silver medallists Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen.

Results, draws and live scores at www.tournamentsoftware.com