Kirsty Gilmour reaches the National semi-finals before being eliminated by favourite Susan Egelstaff.

Feb 11 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

BOTHWELL badminton star Kirsty Gilmour reached the Yonex Scottish National semi-finals before being knocked out by one of Scotland’s top players.

Defending women’s singles champion Susan Egelstaff beat Kirsty (16), 21-12 21-15 in the semi-final at the Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth on Sunday morning.

Commonwealth bronze medallist and Bank of Scotland International champion Egelstaff, from Glasgow, disposed of Erskine’s Rebekka Findlay 21-3 21-7 in just 13 minutes to set-up her showdown with Gilmour.

Kirsty, who already this season has won the Lagenfeld Trophy and UK School Games titles, while retaining her Bank of Scotland Under-19 crown, beat Falkirk’s Frances Heslop 21-8 21-10 in the first round and then knocked out Megan Richardson 21-10 21-13 in just 23 minutes.

Egelstaff won the tournament after defeating fellow Glaswegian Linda Sloan 21-13 21-16 in the final.

Kirsty’s dad Brian Gilmour said: “Kirsty did really well and got a few points off Susan, which was good.

“Kirsty beat everyone else quite easily but Susan is one of the top players in Europe.

“As soon as Susan let the pace down a bit Kirsty got some points but I never thought she’d win – however her performance was extremely commendable against a player of that calibre.”

Brian said playing against a player of that quality will bode well for Kirsty’s future.

He said: “It’s getting to the point that only the senior Scottish players are beating Kirsty now, and that has to be a good thing.

“It’s a boost to play against players like that as well because you only get better through experience and, quite simply, nobody plays with her at that pace in practice.

“That means we have to up the pace in training, but it’s all a learning experience.”

Joint fifth seed Gordon Hoggan knocked out Kenny Youth from Lanark in the men’s singles quarter-finals.