Newall faces tough test in Portuguese International

Holly Newall scored a good win in this morning’s women’s singles first round, beating Getter Saar of Estonia 21-14 21-18.

But she faces a tough test this evening if she wants to progress to the quarter-finals, with a clash against top seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk to negotiate.

Newall had won through to the main draw with two good wins in the qualifying rounds yesterday.

She opened with a battling performance to come from a game behind to beat Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann 18-21 21-17 21-16 before confirming her place in the main draw with a more straightforward 21-10 21-12 defeat of Spaniard Manuela Diaz.

Christopher Grimley and Eleanor O’Donnell also came through qualifying in the mixed doubles courtesy of two three-game wins.

The first of those was at the expense of Poland’s Robert Cybulski and Aleksandra Goszczynska which set up an all Scottish clash against Grimley’s brother Matthew and his partner Ciara Torrance.

The Grimley-O’Donnell duo won to reach the main draw but their progress was brought to a halt this morning when they lost to Danes Emil Lauritzen and Iben Bergstein in the first round.

O’Donnell and Torrance play their opening women’s doubles this evening when they take on French duo Julie Ferrier and Manon Krieger.

Jack MacGregor and Ciar Pringle play Russians Vitalij Durkin and Nikolai Ukk in the first round of the men’s doubles, with a match against top seeds Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds the prize on offer to the winners.

And the Grimleys, who won through men’s doubles qualifying yesterday, await the winner of the first round clash between Denmark’s Loritzen and Mikkel Stoffersen and Alex Vlaar and Dimitar Yanakiev of Bulgaria.

Results, scores and draws at www.tournamentsoftware.com

Live streaming at www.youtube.com/user/BadmintonEuropeConf