BOTHWELL'S Kirsty Gilmour is on course for a semi-final clash with four-times champion Rita Yuan Gao when the Yonex Scottish National Championships take place at Bell's Sports Centre in Perth this weekend.

Top seed Gilmour, a semi-finalist last year, starts with a bye and then faces Fiona Archibald or Emma Cook before a likely contest with Yuan Gao, who is returning from her coaching job in Switzerland to compete in the Nationals. Yuan Gao is the only previous winner of the title in the line-up.

The 18-year-old is seeded to meet three-times runner-up Linda Sloan in Sunday afternoon's final and the 22-year-old from Glasgow begins her bid with a second-round match against Rebekka Findlay or Laura Muir.

In the men's singles Kieran Merrilees will be out to retain his title but today's draw has placed him in the same half as joint third seed and fellow Glaswegian Danny Leinster. In the bottom half second seed and 2010 champion Calum Menzies (Falkirk) is on course for a semi-final against the other third seed Gordon Hoggan (Dunfermline).

Merrilees starts against Lewis Gallacher (Kilmarnock) or Kyle Longmuir (Glasgow) while Menzies begins his bid against Ben Torrance (Prestwick) or Calvin Percival (Greenock) after the top two seeds each received a first-round bye.

In the men's doubles holders and top seeds Jamie Neill (Hamilton) and Keith Turnbull Larkhall) face a tricky start when they take on Glasgow pair David Forbes and Stewart Kerr. Second seeds Paul Van Rietvelde (Longnidry) and Watson Briggs (Renfrew) start against Percival and Peter Walker (Dundee).

Glasgow's Milton Keynes-based Imogen Bankier and Edinburgh's Jillie Cooper, two players who have dominated the women's doubles in recent years, are strong favourites to lift the title and they begin with a second-round test against Glasgow rivals Viktoria Tsvetanova and Frances Heslop.

Second seeds Yuan Gao and Sloan are their likely final opponents but first they will have to overcome Findlay and Victoria Wan (Renfrew) or Fiona Bain (Uddingston) and Laura Muir (Glasgow) in the second round.

Bankier and Briggs are top mixed doubles seeds and will be bidding for a fifth title together. They start their title push against brother and sister Angus and Caitlin Gilmour (Troon) or Gallacher and Kirsten Geals (Glasgow).

Second seeds Van Rietvelde and Cooper will start against the winners of the first-round clash between Jakob van den Berg (South Queensferry) and Fiona Bain or Steven Stewart (Alexandria) and Victoria Wan (Renfrew). Van Rietvelde won the title last year with Bankier.

A total of 50 men and 24 women players have entered the Championships, which are sponsored by Yonex UK and are staged at the Bell's Sports Centre courtesy of Perth and Kinross Council, Perth and Kinross Sports Council and Live Active Leisure.

Friday's action (from 5.15pm) features mixed doubles up to and including the semi-finals while Saturday's play, starting at 9.30am, features the four other events.

Sunday's semi-finals begin at 10am with the finals from 1.45pm.

Click here to view the full draws for the Championships