Kjærsfeldt and Coelho safely through to the last eight on action-packed day two of 2021 Scottish Open

Danish second seed Line Kjærsfeldt made an excellent start to her quest for women’s singles glory at the 2021 Scottish Open.

With home favourite Kirsty Gilmour later retiring in her first round match, Kjærsfeldt is now the highest seed left in the tournament and started with a 21-9, 21-9 win over qualifier Francesca Corbett of USA.

The Dane won the title here back in 2015 and said after her win she will be looking for more Glasgow glory this weekend.

“I don’t hope for the same as last time in 2018 (when she was beaten by Gilmour in a thrilling final) hopefully I can maybe win this time,” said Kjærsfeldt.

“I am going for the championship for sure, but I know there are a lot of tough opponents and it will be really, really hard.

“Each match I will focus on one at a time, and hopefully that will get me through to Sunday.

“It’s always nice to play here in Scotland, the set-up is great and I’m enjoying it so far.

“I think this (her win) was a good start, and the performance was ok for my first match here.”

Kjærsfeldt then followed this up in the evening with a 21-17, 21- 14 victory over Edith Urell of Sweden, to book her place in the last eight.

Elsewhere in the draw, England’s Abigail Holden suffered a tough defeat against Wen Yu Zhang of Canada.

Holden was the runner-up at the Dutch Open last month but found it tough going on Friday morning, with the Canadian triumphing 21-11, 21-12.

“It was tough for me because she (Zhang) was playing so well right from the start and putting me under a lot of pressure.

“I was just chasing and trying to do what I could, but as the match went on I could feel her confidence grew and mine sunk. It was difficult.”

Zhang was clearly in good touch throughout the day, following this up by surprising Dutch fourth seed Soraya De Visch Eijbergen 21-14, 21-15.

By Friday evening, the men’s singles took centre stage with Brazilian Ygor Coelho back in action after his first-round win yesterday.

Next up was world number 80 Mithun Manjunath, and the Indian provided a much tougher challenge with the tournament second seed trailing for much of the first set.

A late rally saw Coelho take the opener, before he managed to sneak an equally close-run second game, claiming a 21-19, 21-19 victory.

He will face France’s Arnaud Merkle in an intriguing quarter-final after he pulled off a surprise win over sixth seed Lee Dong Keun at the same time.

The South Korean had no response to Merkle’s impressive court coverage with a final score of 21-16, 21-15, the Frenchman letting out a huge scream after securing match point.

Third seed Toby Penty from England is also safely through to the last eight after a 21-14, 21-15 victory over Denmark’s Rasmus Messerschmidt.

In the other half of the draw, fourth seed Subhankar Day was sent home by Finnish qualifier Joakim Oldorff 21-12, 16-21, 21-16.

His compatriot and qualifier Priyanshu Rajawat has also managed to reach the last eight at the Emirates Arena.

The Indian followed up a win over Dane Luka Wraber by stunning Swedish fifth seed Felix Burestedt, a player ranked over 100 places ahead of him, 21-17, 21-15. A ten-point streak in the second game proving crucial.

In the men’s doubles, South Korea’s Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang were back on court, after they navigated qualifying successfully on Thursday.

A straightforward win over Joan Monroy and Carlos Piris (21-11, 21-13) set up an intriguing second-round clash with fourth seeds Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds of Ireland.

The Irish couple put up a brave fight, particularly in the second game, but the former World Championship bronze medallists proved too strong, going through 21-12, 21-14.

And in the women’s doubles top seeds Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai have also reached Saturday in Glasgow.

They managed a quickfire win over Spain’s Nerea Ivorra and Claudia Leal, 21-7, 21-6.

The Scottish Open Badminton Championships is being staged at the Emirates Arena by Badminton Scotland with support from Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, Event Scotland and Yonex. Full results are at www.tournamentsoftware.com, and tickets are on sale at https://badmintonscotland.org.uk/tickets/