Kirsty leads Scots charge at Polish Open

The 18-year-old from Bothwell begins her bid against Ireland’s Sinead Chambers.

The Yonex Scottish National champion is in the same half of the draw as Welsh seventh seed Carissa Turner and Polish top seed Kamila Augustyn.

Glasgow’s Kieran Merrilees, Scotland’s National men’s singles champion for the last two seasons, is fifth seed and awaits a qualifier in the first round. If he wins his opener he would then face Russia’s Nikita Khakimov or Czech player Jakub Bitman.

But the big test would come in the quarter-finals where he is likely to meet top seed Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania.

Scotland are also represented in the men’s doubles where Michael Campbell and Patrick MacHugh start their men’s doubles challenge against Welsh pair Oliver Gwilt and Robert John. If they win their opener, they will face third seeds Patrick Lundqvist and Jonathan Nordh of Sweden.

After the Polish Open the players will head for the Yonex Belgian International in Leuven from September 13-16, where Merrilees is in the men’s singles and Gilmour in the women’s singles as well as the women’s doubles with Edinburgh’s Jillie Cooper.

Longniddry’s Paul Van Rietvelde will contest the men’s doubles with England’s Marcus Ellis while Edinburgh’s Michael Campbell and Troon’s Angus Gilmour and Edinburgh’s Robert Blair and Malaysian partner Tan Bin Shen are also among the entries. Blair will partner Cooper in the mixed doubles.