Susan Egelstaff claimed it was one the best matches of her career, and the reward was a place in the final 16 of the women’s singles at the Yonex All-England Super Series in Birmingham.  Facing a tough tie against the Japanese No.1 Sayako Sato, the Bank of Scotland International and Yonex Scottish National Champion won 21-9 21-19.

Egelstaff, winner of the Bank of Scotland International Championship at the Kelvin Hall in November and her fifth Yonex Scottish title last month, now meets the Chinese No.6 seed, Lan Lu, for a place in the quarter-finals. 

“That’s going to be even harder, but I’m delighted that I’ve managed to get past the first round,” said the 2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist. “It’s always big to get into the last 16 at a Super Series tournament and this is really going to help my ranking.”

Sill in the early stages of working under new Scottish coach, Yvette Yun Luo, Egelstaff continued: “This is only my fourth tournament since Yvette took over and it’s easily my best performance. It was a good time for everything to really click in.”

Currently at No.32 in the world rankings, Egelstaff made a strong start against Sato, who reached the final of the 2008 world junior championship in India and is now at No.26 in the world order.

Having taken the first with ease, the second game was a tighter affair. With the score tied at 19-all, the Glasgow 27-year-old got a slightly lucky net cord to move to match point and closed out a match that lasted just 33 minutes.

Glasgow’s Imogen Bankier also had cause for celebration in the mixed doubles as she partnered England’s Robert Blair to a tense 21-19 17-21 21-17 victory over their British training partners Chris Adcock and Gabby White.

But Blair, a former Scottish cap who now plays for England, then pulled out of the men’s doubles with a recurrence of the back strain that saw him retire in the final of the German Open mixed doubles last Sunday.

He received intense physiotherapy last night and hopes to be fit for the last 16 match against the Chinese No.4 seeds, Hanbin He and Yung Fu. But Bankier knows it will be touch and go.

“Robert was struggling today but I hope he makes it,” said the Glasgow 22-year-old, who herself spent seven months sidelined last year by a knee injury. Having reached a high of No.7 in the world, they have now slipped to No.74.

In the women’s doubles, Bankier and Edinburgh’s Emma Mason put up a brave effort but lost in straight games to the world No.15 pair of Savitree Amitapai and Vacharaporn Munkit. They did lead in both games – 13-9 in the first and 12-10 in the second – but went out 16-21 18-21.

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