Scottish Open finals day to feature Scottish contenders in two events
The Semi Finals of the Scottish Open at the Emirates Arena concluded in the best possible way with no less than three Scots through to tomorrow’s showpiece finals.
Kirsty Gilmour, Julie MacPherson and Ciara Torrance will all be in action as an epic tournament reaches its climax on Sunday 23 November at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Top seed Gilmour was first up in the women’s singles against Ga Ram Kim, leading 21-11 in the quarter-final before the Korean retired with an injury.
In the semis Gilmour faced another Korean, So Yul Lee, surviving a scare in the first game as her opponent recovered from an early deficit to push the Scot close.
But Gilmour kept her composure, closing out the game 21-19 before a more straightforward 21-14 second game sent her through to tomorrow’s final.
And Julie MacPherson and Ciara Torrance capped an outstanding day for the home players with a determined 21-15 18-21 21-12 semi-final win over Danish duo Kathrine Vang and Mette Werge in one of the last matches of the day.
The Scots had earlier recovered from a game down in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles to beat Malena Norman and Tilda Sjoo of Sweden 24-26 21-16 21-15.
MacPherson’s women’s doubles success partly made up for earlier disappointment in the mixed with Alex Dunn, where she went out at the semi-final stage to Danes Rasmus Espersen and Amalie Kudsk.
Espersen and Kudsk will face their compatriots Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch in the final.
There was also disappointment for Dunn and Adam Pringle in the men’s doubles when they lost out in the quarter-finals to Korean’s Noh and Park 21-16 17-21 25-27.
Noh and Park lost out in an all Korean semi-final to Lee Jong Min and Wang Chan, who will face top seeded Danes Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard in the final.
The men’s singles final will be contested by the first and second seeds. Frenchman Arnauld Merkle beat Denmark’s Ditlev Holm in the semi-final while second seed Joakim Oldorff of Finland beat Croatia’s Aria Dinata to reach the final.