Kieran Merrilees, Scotland�s hottest prospect, was caught napping yesterday before making it through to the second round of the men�s singles.

Kieran Merrilees, Scotland's hottest prospect, was caught napping yesterday before making it through to the second round of the men's singles.

The 19-year-old full-time player based at the National Badminton Centre at Milton Keynes was 10-1 down in the first set to fellow-Scot Paul Van Rietvelde before coming to his senses and recovering to win 22-20, 21-9.

Merrilees, from Kelvindale, Glasgow, is no stranger to dozy moments. Latterly at school, after early-morning training, he was prone to nodding off during classes and dreaming instead of sending winning smashes down the line.

"It was hard to combine badminton and schoolwork," he reflected after his victory in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, "and the schoolwork definitely took second place.

"I never had any other career in mind. I always imagined myself playing badminton, especially the way things are going with the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow in 2014 and the Olympics to London in 2012. I'm of an age that I should be coming up to my peak when these come round."

Now he is living the dream. This is his second year as a full-time player, supported by lottery funding and sponsorship from Lloyds TSB, and he is currently riding the crest of a wave after reaching the semi-finals of the Hungarian Open earlier this month, his best performance to date on the senior circuit.

Having been junior European No.1 and five times Scottish age-group champion, once at under-15 and twice each at under-17 and under-19, he realised he needed to improve his fitness if he was to make his mark at the top level.

"I've been doing a lot of physical training and that result in Hungary gave me confidence because I now know that I can play with these guys," he said.

He eventually lost to India's Anand Pawar, the world No.48 who is sixth seed this week, but Merrilees was at a disadvantage. He had to come through three qualifying rounds which was three matches more than his opponent, who had no such drain on his stamina.

In the quarter-finals the teenage Scot defeated Canadian Stefan Wojcikiewicz, the world No.53, and the seventh seed in Glasgow this week, and by that measure Merrilees is set for a rapid rise from his current world mark of No.196, with this week's event and the Welsh and Irish Opens to come before Christmas.

Merrilees has taken the now well-trodden path southward to Milton Keynes, where his game is developing fast, to the extent that Dan Travers, the national high performance coach in Scotland, rates him the best Scottish singles prospect he has seen, and the youngster is lapping it all up.

"At the national centre it's total badminton. Basically, I just train, eat and sleep," he said.

This morning he plays the Bulgarian, Blagovest Kisyov, and there is an encouraging sign. His opponent has asked to have the match brought forward by 90 minutes so that he will have time to catch a flight home. "I don't think he's expecting to get through," noted the Scot, who agreed to the change after consultation with Travers.

Merrilees was joined in the second round by fellow-Scots Stephen McPhail and Kenneth Young, who both face seeded opposition today, while 15-year-old Kirsty Gilmour, the Scottish under-19 champion, made it through to the women's singles second round with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-17 win over Canada's Valerie St Jacques. She will join Scotland's Susan Hughes, the No.2 seed, who had a bye.

Andrew Gilliland, 17, who came through qualifying to make the men's singles main draw at his first attempt, narrowly failed yesterday, going down 21-18, 21-23, 11-21 to Belgium's Frederic Gaspard.