Scots bow out of Hylo Open
Scottish participation in the HYLO Open was brought to a close at the second-round stage as three doubles pairings were beaten on Thursday.
Four duos, along with Kirsty Gilmour in the women’s singles, took part in the Super 500 event in Saarbrücken and the Scotland team made a strong start in Tuesday’s action.
Christopher and Matthew Grimley were first up in the men’s doubles and claimed an excellent victory over German seventh seeds Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Siedel.
The brothers came from 14-9 down to take the first set 21-19 and held their nerve when the second reached crunch time, ultimately winning it 24-22 to seal their progress.
It was a similarly close encounter in Thursday’s second-round clash with Danish duo Daniel Lundgaard and Mathias Thyrri.
The Scottish pair surged into a 19-14 lead in the opener but their determined opponents hit back to level it up with five consecutive points before triumphing 22-20.
Buoyed by their fightback, the Danes opened up a 14-4 advantage in the second set and there was no way back for the Grimleys, who went down 21-14.
Elsewhere in the men’s doubles, Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall won a battle of Britain in the first round by defeating England’s Matthew Clare and Ethan van Leeuwen 21-18, 21-15.
The contest was competitive throughout but the Scottish pair gained the edge when it mattered to come through in 27 minutes.
They were back in action on Thursday against Indonesia’s Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin, who made it through to the third round at Dunn and Hall’s expense with a 21-16, 21-11 victory.
In the women’s doubles, Julie MacPherson and Ciara Torrance started their competition with a convincing straight sets victory over Ireland’s Kate Frost and Moya Ryan.
Six straight points opened up an early 9-2 lead and having wrapped up the first set 21-13, MacPherson and Torrance took the second 21-9 to advance in style.
Next up the duo took on Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen, who flew out the traps and took the opener 21-7.
The Scottish pair hit back to level it up, winning the second set 21-17, and the decider looked set for a thrilling conclusion at 13-12.
But a run of five consecutive points from the Dutch duo took the game away from MacPherson and Torrance, who were beaten 21-15 and saw their run halted in round two.
MacPherson and Hall teamed up in the mixed doubles but were beaten 21-17, 21-11 by Indonesian fifth seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the opening round.
And also suffering an early exit was Gilmour, who entered the women’s singles draw as eighth seed and faced Turkey’s Aliye Demirbag in the first round.
Gilmour started on top and quickly opened up a 14-4 advantage, only for her tenacious opponent to fight back and take the first set 21-19.
The Belshill ace, who reached the semi-finals of the Denmark Open in October, led 11-8 in the second as she looked to level matters but Demirbag won seven points on the spin and wrapped up a straight sets triumph.
Photo credit: Badminton Photo