Impressive Gilmour into last eight

BADMINTON: Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour reached the singles quarter-finals at the Scottish International Championships for the first time yesterday, the teenager sweeping aside France’s Perrine Le Buhanic like an experienced veteran at the Emirates Arena.

The match was delayed for over an hour, but Gilmour helped to speed up the schedule with a 26-minute victory over the far taller French player.

“I’ve been in the quarter-finals of the doubles before but it’s great to make it in the singes,” said the Bothwell 19-year-old.

In the last 16 of the men’s singles, Scottish champion Kieran Merrilees followed up his first-round win over a seed with another good performance against a highly-regarded Dane, Rasmus Flandberg. But his run ended in the afternoon when he lost to Germany’s No 9 seed, Lukas Schmidt.