Georgia Adderley relishes run to last four of Scottish Squash Open in front of home fans

Georgia Adderley has hailed her success at the Springfield Scottish Squash Open after she reached the semi-finals of Scotland’s flagship professional tournament.

Edinburgh's Georgia Adderley in action against eventual winner Georgina Kennedy in the semi-finals of the Scottish Squash Open in Inverness.

The Edinburgh player rated it as one of her best performances on the PSA Challenger Tour and she relished playing in front of a home crowd in Inverness.

Adderley lost in the semis to No 4 seed Georgina Kennedy who went on to beat fellow Englishwoman Grace Gear in the final.

Adderley’s run to the last four included a 3-1 victory over No 1 seed Julianne Courtice, from England, in an enthralling quarter-final.

“It’s my biggest win to date on the PSA tour, and to do it on home soil makes it even better,” the Scot said of hte win over Courtice. I’ve spent the summer mainly playing in England with the crowd against me, so this made a really nice change.”

No 5 seed Alison Thomson, from Glasgow, whose father Alan Thomson was Scotland’s most capped player, made it to the quarter-finals, after a dominant display against Egypt’s Rana Ismail in the second round. She lost in the quarters to Kennedy.

In the men’s draw, Scotland’s top seed Rory Stewart from Crieff was knocked out in the second-round by England’s Nick Wall. After taking a 2-0 lead, Rory was eventually outmuscled by Wall who came back to win 3-2.

Nine-times Scottish junior champion Alasdair Prott was one of four Scottish wildcard selections and the 20-year-old from Inverness put on an inspired performance in front of his home crowd at the Inverness Tennis and Squash Club to beat England’s Connor Sheen in a five-game thriller before a battling 3-0 defeat to Jakub Solnicky from the Czech Republic in the second round.

In the men’s final the top seeded Frenchman Sebastien Bonmalais claimed victory in straight games against Wales’ Emyr Evans, the fifth seed.

Maggie Still, chief executive of Scottish Squash, was delighted with the quality of the performances in Inverness.

“The Springfield Scottish Squash Open has been a tremendous success, with some top-class performances and thrilling matches. With live streaming throughout and BBC coverage from the quarter-final stages, we are striving to bring squash to a wider audience in Scotland and inspire the next generation of talent.”