Merrilees on course for title after easy wins

KIERAN Merrilees is regarded as one of Scotland's brightest stars, and the 20-year-old stayed on course to win his first Yonex National title with convincing wins in the men's singles yesterday at Bell's Sports Centre in Perth.

With the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi firmly on the radar, the Glasgow youngster wasn't troubled in either of his opening two matches, and then dispatched last year's top Scottish junior, Martin Campbell (Edinburgh), 21-14, 21-10 in the quarter-finals.

In this morning's semi-finals, he will face former winner, Craig Goddard (East Kilbride), in what promises to be an intriguing clash between youth and experience. In the other semi, Calum Menzies (Falkirk) takes on Dunfermline's Gordon Hoggan.

Merrilees opened 2010 by winning his first Yonex Dunfermline Open title, and a first Scottish Championship would be another feather in the cap for the once-promising football player who chose badminton because he "wanted to do something different".

The tall, powerful and ever-improving player is well aware that the next few seasons offer a great opportunity. "The Commonwealth Games is definitely the big goal this year," said Merrilees. "Then there are the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the Commonwealths in Glasgow in 2014. Winning the Scottish Championships this year would be a nice start."

At one time, Susan Egelstaff seemed to suffer from a jinx when playing on home courts. But no longer. Now 27, she has four Scottish women's singles titles in the bag, and she enjoyed a huge surge of confidence by winning the Bank of Scotland Scottish International title at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall in November.

Her quest to complete a handful of national singles victories – and the first under her married name – remained firmly on track.

In fact, she dropped just ten points and needed just 13 minutes to overwhelm Glasgow's Rebekka Findlay 21-17, 21-3 in the quarter-finals. She now meets the highly promising 16-year-old Kirsty Gilmour in the semis. The Bothwell girl, who is also a Commonwealth Games prospect this year, beat Megan Richardson (Hamilton) 21-10, 21-13 in the last eight.

The second of the semi-finals features Glasgow's Linda Sloan, who is both the No2 seed and Egelstaff's doubles partner, and Mauchline youngster Emma Cook.

In the mixed doubles, top seeds Watson Briggs (Renfrew) and Imogen Bankier (Glasgow), the winners for the past three years, will face second favourites Paul Van Rietvelde (Longniddry) and Jillie Cooper (Edinburgh) in today's final.