Badminton: Blair and Bankier progress in Scottish Open

Scottish mixed doubles pair Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier have reached quarter-finals of the Scottish Open Grand Prix following a walkover.

Australian duo Robin Middleton and He Tian Tang withdrew before their last 16 match at the Emirates Sports Arena.

The Scots had proven too strong for France's Baptiste Careme and Anne Tran in the opening round.

The fifth seeds, event champions in 2007, were taken to three games but advanced with a 21-13 17-21 21-9 win.

Kirsty Gilmour had to dig deep to get past the American Beiwen Zhang in the second round of the women's singles at the Emirates Sports Arena.

The 20-year-old from Hamilton took the first game 22-20, lost her rhythm in the second, going down 12-21 but rediscovered her touch to win the decider 22-20.

Gilmour, the world number 25, now plays Bulgaria's Linda Zetchiri, who beat the Scot in their only previous meeting just a few weeks ago.

The Scot had started her title challenge with a solid 21-10 21-8 win over Czech player Zuzana Pavelkova.

But top seed Carolina Martin, the Spanish number one who defeated Gilmour in the London final, was made to work before beating Denmark's Mette Poulsen 20-22 21-17 21-16.

Blair and Malaysian partner Tan Bin Shen progressed in the men's doubles.

They eliminated Ireland's Jonathan Dolan and Sam Magee in the first round with a 21-14 21-18 victory that earns them a tie against second seeds Lukasz Moren and Wojciech Szkudlarczyk after the Poles defeated Austria's Juergen Koch and Denmark's Claus Lind Thomsen 21-13 21-14.

Bankier and Bulgaria's Petya Nedelcheva, who are top seeds in the women's doubles and received a first-round bye, begin their challenge in the second round on Friday at the Emirates Arena against Lena Grebak and Maria Helsbol of Denmark.

In the men's singles, Scotland's Kieran Merrilees, the 14th seed from Glasgow, moved into the third round with a 22-20 21-14 win over England's Sam Phillips and now faces Malaysian Kwong Beng Chan.

Scottish teenage prospect Josh Neil's Open run come to an end, but he put up a good display against Indonesian eighth seed Andre Kurniawan Tedjono in losing 21-16 21-18.

Edinburgh's Martin Campbell and Jillie Cooper put up a strong display against Denmark's 2011 winner Kim Astrup Sorensen and new partner Maria Helsbol before going down 21-19 22-24 21-15.