SCOTTISH GP 2013 SF – Piek in another Scottish final

Selena Piek reached a final in Scotland for the second year running, this time in the women’s doubles with Muskens. Meanwhile Leverdez fought through a scrappy match to book a place against Hurskainen in the final.

By Michael Burke, Badzine Correspondent, live from Glasgow.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (archive).

The first men’s singles match of the day saw Frenchman Leverdez (pictured left) into the final, playing against first seeded Ville Lang of Finland. A slow start by the Finn saw Leverdez take the first end relatively easily, however a second game revival meant a scrappy game was ground out by both players.

A game defined by unforced errors, Leverdez managed to hold on to take his first victory in 4 attempts against Lang. Speaking after the game, the Frenchman said: “It has been a long time since I have played him, I’ve never won against him before, but I have improved a lot since we last met three years ago. Today it was quite an equal game.”

He will face another Scandinavian in the final, as Henri Hurskainen came through in two, 21-19 21-18. A close match, Hurskainen came from behind in both games against Indonesian Tedjono. Leverdez spoke about his opponent for the final whom he beat en route to winning the Swiss International in October, “I have played Henri before in the semi of the Swiss, but he has experience playing in finals, so I will try my hardest.”

The French also featured in the second mixed doubles match on court, but Labar / Lefel failed to follow their compatriot through as the first seeded English pair Langridge / Olver (pictured right) came through a tough game 21-18 21-18.

There was not much between the pairs, but the English just edged ahead at the business end of each game. Speaking afterwards, Langridge said, “We were lucky to come through as we didn’t really stick to our game plan, but credit to our opponents they played really well. We had to fight really hard to come back in the second set and showed some real resilience.”

The English pair will have the unenviable task of facing up against Scotland’s own Blair / Bankier in tomorrow’s final.

Selena Piek (pictured left), having earlier been knocked out of the mixed draw, reached another final at the Scottish Open, although this year in the women’s doubles rather than mixed. She bettered her earlier match with Jacco Arends, with a charmed performance with women’s partner Eefje Muskens (pictured) in the last match on court.

The Dutch somewhat fortuitously beat the home favourite Bankier and her Bulgarian partner Nedelcheva, as the Dutch managed many lucky smashes and drives that hit the tape, just dropping over the net.

The full results for the day can be found here.