Three in a row for Dunn and Hall as Newall takes her first National singles title
Holly Newall won her first Yonex Scottish National singles title at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth this afternoon while Alex Dunn and Adam Hall won the men’s doubles title for the third time in as many years.
Having finished as runner-up on her three previous appearances in the singles final Newall, the top seed from Mauchline, won 21-11 21-11 over Falkirk’s Toni Woods in the first match of the afternoon.
Speaking after her victory Newall was unable to hide her delight, saying: “I feel unbelievable. I was getting a bit emotional towards the end and a bit nervous. I was up 20-11 and I was just thinking to myself please don’t bottle this.
“But when I got over the line it felt amazing to finally overcome those three years of being runner-up to Kirsty and I finally managed to get on the top step of the podium.
“I played the best there that I have in the tournament. I was focussed, hitting good shots and not making a lot of mistakes.
“I was making my opponent work a lot harder than she had in the previous matches and forcing the mistakes from her.”
Newall returned to the court later in the day in the women’s doubles final but was unable to double her title tally when she and Rachel Andrew were on the losing end of a 21-11 21-11 score line to top seeds Julie MacPherson and Ciara Torrance.
And Kieran Merrilees won his eighth men’s singles title and fourth in a row, beating Joshua Apiliga 21-8 21-13 in the final.
Meanwhile Dunn and Hall continued their fine run of form on home soil.
The 2019 Scottish Open champions won their third Yonex National men’s doubles title in a row by beating Christopher and Matthew Grimley 22-20 21-18 in a repeat of last year’s final.
“It wasn’t our best match but it was good to get the win. That’s our third title in a row so we are doing well on home soil,” said Hall.
Dunn continued “We’ve had a good run recently with getting to the final of the Irish International and then winning the Scottish Open.
“It’s been a good start to our season and we just need to keep that form going forwards into our next tournament in Austria.”
Earlier Hall and MacPherson had won the mixed doubles title courtesy of a closely fought 21-17 19-21 21-8 win over second seeds Dunn and Torrance.
The Yonex Scottish National Championships was staged at Bell’s Sports Centre, with support from Yonex, Live Active Leisure, Perth & Kinross Council and the Perth Common Good fund.
Results and draws are online at www.tournamentsoftware.com
For further information contact Peter Dean, Head of Events for Badminton Scotland, on 0141 445 1218.