KIRSTY Gilmour has taken a second international title in her bid to climb back up the world rankings after sliding 40 places from 14 – an all-time high for a Scot.
The 23-year-old won her fifth singles and first mixed doubles crowns at the Scottish National Championships in February, but knew as she headed to France, where she plays in the domestic club league, that she faced a stronger field at the Orleans International.
She was duly made to battle all the way, having to negotiate a deciding set in beating Denmark’s Sofie Holmboe Dahl 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the quarter-final, before again conceding a hard-fought opening game against the host nation’s Delphine Lansac in the semi-final. However, Lansac was forced to withdraw through injury just as the Scot was asserting herself, having taken the second set and starting the third well to lead 24-26, 21-14, 13-7.
She spent more than two hours on court on Saturday, but Gilmour felt that set her up well for the final against Ying Ying Lee, a compatriot of new Scotland head coach Tat Meng Wong. “I was quite glad I got that much time on court because it let me put all the stuff Tat Meng and I have been working on into practise,” she said.
She duly came through another tough opening game, before easing past the Malaysian teenager in the second, winning 22-20, 21-11 as she drew on her past experiences of close games and her own Commonwealth Games comeback from 19-11 down in the second game of her semi-final, when she won 10 points to secure her silver medal.
“I always feel quite confident in tight games and I feel my win/lose record when it gets to 19 or 20 all is pretty good, she added. “But when I was 19-11 up in the second game of the final I was still conscious that it could be turned around because I’ve done that before.”
She noted that the work she has done with Tat Meng on the psychological side of the game also helped her to think more clearly at those key moments.
Gilmour’s next trip is a return to the European Championships later this month, where she will be bidding to go one better than last year when she was the beaten finalist.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here