Chris Adcock captured his first mixed doubles title with Scotland's Imogen Bankier today when they were crowned champions at the Bank of Scotland International Championships in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.
Adcock and new partner Bankier were far too strong for Germany’s Till Zander and Gitte Koehler, winning 21-10 21-12.
It gave Bankier the title for a second time following her 2007 win with Robert Blair and for Adcock it made up for his men’s doubles disappointment when he and 2008 winner Andy Ellis lost to England team-mates and world No 24 pair Marcus Ellis and Peter Mills 21-19 11-21 21-15.
Bankier, who had already reached the semi-final of the Bigburger tournament in September in their first tournament together, said: ”It’s a new partnership and we’re pleased with the whole tournament.
”I won this title three years ago so it’s great to win it again. Now we can look forward to the Irish International and the Italian Open before taking a Christmas break. Then the plan is to go to the Super Series events in Malaysia and Korea. That’s not definite yet but if not, we will play the Swedish.”
Adcock, who used to partner Gabby White, said of the new pairing: ”There was no difficulty adjusting. We just gelled straight away. Today was a step in the right direction. We didn’t drop a game in the whole tournament and no-one took more than 15 points off us in any game.
”The final wasn’t the hardest match we played but we had a tough semi-final.”
The new pairing are already 112 in the world but this win will take them into the top 100 – and climbing.
Mills was delighted with his men’s doubles win just a week after reaching the Norwegian final. ”We can add this to our win in the Bulgarian International. We reckon it could take us into the world’s top 20 or at least very close to it.”
England took a second doubles title when third seeds White and Jenny Wallwork beat second seeds Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver 21-17 21-17.
But England’s hopes of another title were dashed when 2008 winner Elizabeth Cann wasted three game points in the opening game on the way to losing for the first time in four meetings to Russia’s Tatyana Bibik 25-23 21-12.
The men’s singles title went to Anand Pawar of India. The top seed and 2008 runner-up to England’s Rajiv Ouseph defeated 2006 champion and second seed Ville Lang of Finland 21-9 21-10.
The Robert McCoig Memorial quaiche for the most meritorious home peformance went to Glasgow’s Linda Sloan, who reached the women’s singles quarter-finals for the first time.
Final Results:
Men’s singles: (1) Anand Pawar (Ind) bt (2) Ville Lang (Fin) 21-9 21-10
Women’s singles: (3) Tatyana Bibik (Rus) bt (1) Elizabeth Cann (Eng) 25-23 21-12
Men’s doubles Final:
(1) Marcus Ellis & Peter Mills (Eng) bt (3) Chris Adcock & Andrew Ellis (Eng) 21-19 11-21 21-15
Women’s doubles Final:
(3) Jenny Wallwork & Gabby White (Eng) bt (2) Mariana Agathangelou & Heather Olver (Eng)21-17 21-17
Mixed doubles Final:
(2) Chris Adcock (Eng) & Imogen Bankier (Sco) bt (3) Till Zander & Gitte Koehler (Ger) 21-10 21-12