Badminton: Egelstaff's shuttle takes off as Sloan has to slog it out

Susan Egelstaff, seeking a sixth singles title, cruised into the semi-finals, but No.2 seed Linda Sloan had a stiffer passage against a former winner at the Yonex Scottish National Championships at Bell's Sports Centre in Perth yesterday.

She was pushed all the way in the quarter-final by three-time winner Rita Yuan Gao.

Gao, a 35-year-old former Bank of Scotland Champion, retired from major tournament play three years ago, but she showed she still has plenty of class in a match that lasted 44 minutes and was eventually won by Sloan 14-21, 21-17, 22-20. She now meets Victoria Tsvetanova.

Egelstaff took less than half that time to dispatch Rebekka Findlay 21-14, 21-12 and set up a semi-final against the talented 17-year-old Kirsty Gilmour. Not that the teenager had it all her own way against another 17-year-old, Fiona Archibald.

Archibald, a fellow pupil at the Glasgow School of Sport at Bellahouston Academy, took the middle game before going out 16-21, 21-17, 14-21.

In the men's singles, Kieran Merrilees moved closer to a first title with a 21-4, 21-10 quarter-final win over Danny Leinster. The Glasgow 21-year-old and No.1 seed now faces an intriguing rematch against Calum Menzies.

Last year, Menzies, a part-time player from Falkirk, shocked Merrilees with a stunning victory in the final - and he showed his intentions with a runaway 21-5, 21-6 last-eight triumph over Jakob Van Den Berg.

In the other semi, No.2 seed Gordon Hoggan, who won the Yonex Dunfermline Open last month, takes on Kenny Young, who ended the run of eight-time former winner Bruce Flockhart 21-14, 21-16.

Imogen Bankier set up the chance of a sixth mixed doubles title by reaching the final with a new partner, 19-year-old Paul van Rietvelde. Bankier, who won the Bank of Scotland International with England's Chris Adcock at the Kelvin Hall in November, beat Peter Hockey and Lindsay Campbell 21-14, 21-13 in the semi-finals.

The all-Edinburgh pair of Martin Campbell and Jillie Cooper, the No.2 seeds, came through the lower half of the draw with a 21-15, 21-11 victory over Angus Gilmour and Emma Mason.

Cooper and Mason - who have both won the title with Bankier in the past - are top seeds in the women's doubles and are expected to contest the final with Bankier and new partner Sloan.