Gilmour into semi-finals at Russian Open

Kirsty Gilmour is through to the women’s singles semi-finals at the Russian Open, being held this week in Vladivostock.

The top seed opened her campaign with a win over Maria Ulitina, surviving a late come back from the Ukrainian to win 21-12 24-22 on her fourth match point.

She followed that up by beating Finland’s Airi Mikkela 21-10 21-18 to set up a quarter-final clash with India’s Rituparna Das.

Things seemed to be going according to plan for the Scot after a straightforward 21-10 win in the opening set but Das fought back, taking the second 21-16.

But Gilmour took control early in the decider and was always ahead, winning it 21-16 to reach the last four.

Tomorrow she faces America’s Iris Wang, a player she has defeated three times previously with the last of their meetings coming in 2015.

In the bottom half of the draw Swiss Sabrina Jaquet faces seventh seed Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei.

Full results and draws are at www.tournamentsoftware.com