SCOTTISH GP 2013 Finals – Marin beats Gilmour again

Carolina Marin beat Kirsty Gilmour in another Grand Prix final, although this time the Scot put up a much tougher fight, which followed another three-game match earlier, as Muskens / Piek also overcame their Malaysian opposition for a second time.

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

The first match on court of finals day of the Yonex Scottish Open saw Dutch pair Muskens / Piek (pictured left) facing the Ng sisters of Malaysia. The match went to three to make up in some part for the second walkover in a row that gave Mads Conrad-Peterson and Mads Pieler Kolding their second men’s title in Scotland, after their victory in 2009.

The first game saw the Dutch take a strong early lead as the attacked hard, capitalising on the Malaysian players struggles to find their length. Ng / Ng (pictured right) upped their game however, forcing extra points as the first game just went in favour of the Dutch, 25-23.

Despite some umpiring controversy disturbing the Malaysians in the second game, they powered through to easily take the game. After an even start to the third however, the Dutch edged ahead to win the match.

“There wasn’t really pressure starting the match, because we know our game and what we play like and we’ve beaten them before.”

“We started really well and got like a 7-point lead, but they seriously upped their game and we were so happy to win that first game, it was so close.”

“In the third, we just tried to put pressure on from the start and see how it went, and luckily we came through better.”

After a short interval, the women’s singles final began after the hall had filled up and the atmosphere really built. Home favourite Kirsty Gilmour (pictured left) took to court to play her second Spanish player in as many days, who this time was Carolina Marin (pictured right), who had beaten Gilmour in the London Grand Prix Gold final last month.

The Scot started nervously in front of the home crowd, but brought it back as both players started cagily. The Spaniard held the lead at the interval, and Gilmour obviously showed discomfort with a long-standing plantar fasciitis problem as she removed her shoe and some strapping mid-game.

Marin took the first game to quieten the crowd, but Gilmour came out strong leading from 1-all with 7 straight points mid-game to force a third.

The rubber saw long tight rallies, but the Spaniard was just a little stronger throughout, taking the match 21-14, 11-21, 21-13.

Marin spoke after, “I was a little nervous to start but when I got on court I just tried to have fun and do my game plan against her.”

On the second game reversal, Marin said, “She changed something in her plan and just took it away from me so I preferred to wait and save myself for the deciding game.

“I’m heading to the Irish and Italy next, but I need to take care of my injuries for the Superseries, as I need to step up and improve my ranking next year.”

Kirsty Gilmour was upbeat despite the defeat, and wouldn’t blame anything on her foot pain: “It’s game 6 of a possible 6 so obviously it’s hurting, but it’s not getting any worse. I’m pleased but disappointed with my performance this week, it’s bittersweet.

“I played almost my best today but it just wasn’t enough. I’m glad to have played up to my seeding at home. I’m always improving, it’s all positives to take away.”

Kirsty struggled in particular on serve, saying, “I was a bit tentative with them, maybe a bit nervous, the wrist just wasn’t going through so some of them fell a little short. I wasn’t that nervous though, I’m glad to have played in front of a big home crowd.  It would have been terrifying to go into the Commonwealth Games without having had a practise run in that environment first.”

The full results for the day can be found here.