By MARTIN TIGHE

There was success for the host country at this year’s Scottish Badminton Open as two players progressed to the latter stages for the first time in their careers.

Kieran Merrilees (seeded 13) and 18-year-old Holly Newell both achieved personal bests in the competition before eventually bowing out to tough opposition at the Emirates arena in Glasgow.

Newell started her tournament with two qualification matches on the opening day of the Open.  In her first qualification match she defeated fellow Scot Toni Woods, 15-21, 14-21.  In her second qualification tie she edged out England’s Paige Butler 18-21, 19-21 in a close encounter.

Newell’s performance on the first day left her satisfied as she admitted that her fitness was an issue: “It  feels pretty good to get the two wins and be in the main draw but I’m really struggling with my cold.  It was always my aim in this competition to get to the main draw and to get the chance to compete with the big names in the world.”

Newell entered the Scottish Open fresh off the back of success in the Czech Republic and this gave her confidence going to the Emirates: “That was good preparation because I played six games and I managed to win them all in two sets so to come away with the trophy was good.”

Looking ahead to her match in the first round proper, Newell’s cold was still in the back of her mind: “I’m still not feeling 100 percent so I’ll go for a hot bath tonight and have a hot chocolate to try and sweat it out me.”

Unfortunately for Newell the affects of her cold didn’t disappear in time for her next match.  She looked slightly fatigued and she lost to fifth seed Mia Blichfeldt from Denmark, 21-18, 21-15.

Merrilees made it thorough to the third round of the competition before losing to Marc Caljouw from the Netherlands, 25-23, 18-21, 21-16.  Despite the defeat he was still happy with his performance at an arena where he hasn’t always felt comfortable: “I always feel a lot of pressure playing at home because I want to do well.  The conditions in the Emirates don’t really suit my style of game either.  The hall is big and cold and it’s hard to adapt to as I’m a quick and aggressive player.

“I was happy with my first two matches though as my style matches up well to playing against players from Chinese Taipei for example.”

Despite the exit form the completion before the weekend matches, it was certainly a step in the right direction for Newell and Merrilees.