JILLIE COOPER and Kirsty Gilmour left their mark on the Yonex Irish International in Lisburn at the weekend when they reached the women’s doubles quarter-finals.

And they might have gone even further if they had been able to convert one of their two game points in the opener against second seeds Lotte Jonathans and Paulien van Dooremalen. But the Dutch pair held their nerve to win 24-22 21-18.

But the Scottish pair had the satisfaction of beating Taiwan’s Hsiao Ma Pai and Yu Po Pai 21-18 21-9 and Ireland’s Sinead Chambers and Jennie King 21-16 21-10 on the way to the last eight.

Their doubles performance helped make up for Gilmour’s early singles exit when she was unlucky enough to be drawn against Scottish International champion Judith Meulendijks in the first round and went down 21-16 21-19 against the Dutch star despite holding her up to 16-16 in the first game and pushing her all the way in the second.

Glasgow’s Kieran Merrilees won his opening men’s singles by beating Magnus Sahlberg 21-10 21-16 but then fell In the second round 21-16 21-18 against Przemyslaw Wacha, the Polish second seed who went on to reach the final before being forced to retire in the second game when trailing to Scottish International winner Rajiv Ouseph of England.

For full results see www.tournamentsoftware.com