Semi-final line-ups confirmed at Yonex Scottish National Badminton Championships
The line-ups for the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s singles and doubles were confirmed today at the Yonex Scottish National Badminton Championships at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth.
In the men’s singles top seed Callum Smith and second seed Joshua Apiliga both progressed with relative ease, neither player dropping a set as they eased into the last four.
But their respective opponents are not the players who were expected to proceed – at least according to the seedings.
In what was probably the match of the day joint 5/8 seed James Robertson battled past 3/4 seed Danny Robson, winning 21-14 20-22 21-13 to set up a semi-final clash with Apiliga.
And in the top half of the draw Ciar Pringle, another 5/8 seed, held back the challenge of the other 3/4 seed Michael McGuire 21-17 21-18 to set up a contest with Smith.
Rachel Sugden eased into the semi-finals as she started the defence of her women’s singles crown and will face Toni Woods in the last four on Sunday morning.
In the bottom half of the draw Basia Grodynska suffered an early scare when she dropped the first set to talented youngster Iona Muir.
But the second seed battled back to win 17-21 21-18 21-18 before a more comfortable win against Ella Haime secured her semi-final spot, where she plays 3/4 seed Abbie Brooks.
Top seeds Adam Hall and Alex Dunn are hoping to reclaim the men’s doubles title and breezed through to the last four.
They will play Thomas Bethell and Callum Crangle for a place in the final after the joint 3/4 seeds saw off the challenge of Calum Flockhart and Angus Meldrum 22-20 21-11 in their quarter-final.
The second semi-final will be contested between Christopher and Matthew Grimley and Jack MacGregor and Adam Pringle.
A final showdown between the Scottish Open men’s doubles champions of 2019 and 2021 remains a distinct possibility, showing the strength in depth Scotland currently enjoys in men’s doubles.
In the women’s doubles Julie MacPherson is on course for her sixth title in a row. She and Ciara Torrance will face Grodynska and Woods in the semi-finals.
In the bottom half of the draw the place in the final will go to the winner of the match between Eleanor O’Donnell and Rachel Sugden and Holly Newall and Sarah Sidebottom.
The mixed doubles semi-final matches had already been confirmed late on Friday night. Top seeds Hall and MacPherson will face 3/4 seeds Christopher Grimley and O’Donnell while second seeds Dunn and Torrance will play MacGregor and Sidebottom.
The Yonex Scottish National Championships is being staged at Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth.
Play gets underway on Sunday with semi-finals from 10.00hrs, with the finals starting at 14.00hrs.
Results, draws and match schedules are at https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament?id=B19702AA-98C9-4B53-B2E0-39055D5AA5FF
All matches are being live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialSBU