Badminton: City trio enjoy Vienna whirl

THE Edinburgh trio of Emma Mason, Jillie Cooper and Martin Campbell were among a list of Scottish successes on the opening day of badminton's Austrian International Challenge in Vienna.

Mason and Cooper teamed up to win their women's doubles 21-10, 21-16 against Denmark's Emma Bidermann and Sonya Herzig while Campbell joined Troon's Angus Gimour in a 21-15, 21-8 win over Poland's Jakub Bitman and Pavel Drancak.

Mason also made it through to the last 16 of the mixed doubles by joining Renfrew's Watson Briggs in a comfortable 21-7, 21-18 triumph over Germany's Birger Abts and his partner, Sonia Olariu.

Cooper and Longniddry's Paul Van Reitvelde didn't make it into the second round, although they did put up a great fight against the Indonesian No.5 seeds, Viki Indra Okvana and Gustiani Sarl Megawati. The Scots pair lost 21-14, 19-21, 14-21.

In the singles, Scotland's Kieran Merrilees scored a major upset in the first round, while Scottish Champion Susan Egelstaff, the No.2 seed, took her expected place in the last 16.

The unranked Merrilees beat the Ukranian No.7 seed Dmytro Zavadsky 21-17, 15-21, 21-13.

Egelstaff overcame Russia's Victoria Slobodyanuk 21-18, 21-10.