Home hopes pinned on resurgent Hughes

Published on Wednesday 19 November 2008 21:52

SUSAN Hughes has the best chance of a producing a home victory at the Bank of Scotland International Championships at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, and the No2 seed in the women's singles reckons she has a point to prove this week.

The 26-year-old hit the heights two years ago when she claimed a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, but the past 18 months or so have been filled with disappointment, including a failure to make the Olympic Games.

Instead of the high profile trip to Beijing, Hughes spent the summer going through some punishing routines under the direction of Scotland's high performance coach, Dan Travers.

She has already reaped rewards this season by reaching finals of tournaments in Belgium and Bulgaria, and claiming the scalp of the current world No7, Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong.

"I'm delighted that the hard work has paid off so quickly, and I really hope I can do well this week," said Hughes, ranked No31 in the world. "I lost my GB funding earlier this year after I refused to move down to the National Training Centre at Milton Keynes. It would be nice to prove that I can still do well based in Scotland."

With a first-round bye, Hughes does not open her campaign until tomorrow against Daphnee Laliberte.

Kieran Merrilees, the Scottish teenage hope who has moved to Milton Keynes, is first on court today and faces 17-year-old Paul Van Rietvelde, who has been promoted from the qualifying event following late withdrawals.

Edinburgh's Martin Campbell, the Bank of Scotland Under-19 Champion, was also lucky to receive an upgrade straight into the main draw.

The one Scot who did come through the three rounds of qualifying in the men's singles was Bearsden's Andrew Gilliland, who will face Germany's Frederic Gaspard