Rarely does a player’s face light up when asked about someone who has just given them a sound thrashing but the way in which Julie McPherson’s did yesterday summed up her opponent’s growing influence on Scottish badminton.

On the face of it the first round defeat at the Scottish Open Grand Prix was the first setback of a lovely week for the Edinburgh youngster who celebrated her 18th birthday on Tuesday then surprised herself by coming through the qualifying rounds at this event.

However she was clearly thrilled to have had the chance to measure herself against the tournament’s top seed Kirsty Gilmour and readily admitted that she sees the Scottish and British number one as a role model.

“Definitely… there’s not any girls in Scotland close to her yet,” she replied, beaming enthusiastically.

“She’s so much physically stronger and so much more experienced. It was good playing her in this arena.”

McPherson, who took satisfaction from having won her two qualifying matches after losing every match she played at this event a year ago, was to enjoy another success in the Emirates Arena later in the day when she and Martin Campbell claimed a 21-13, 21-12 victory over English pair Scott Williams and Serena Midha, but she acknowledged that facing Gilmour had been something of an eye-opener in terms of standard.

“If I’d played anyone else I’d probably have got a few more winners but she was just getting everything back. It was so physically tough to keep up,” she admitted.

What was evident was that where others might seek to intimidate younger players in a bid to reinforce their own status, the way Gilmour carries herself has earned the respect and admiration of her compatriots and, for all that she was ruthless on court, never challenged after taking the first seven points of the opening set on her way to a 21-6, 21-7 win, she offered encouragement to her beaten opponent.

“I think success breeds success, is that not what they say, so I’d love to see people coming through the ranks and giving us a bit more depth in women’s singles in particular. Julie showed some good signs there and I’m hoping she can keep pushing on,” said Gilmour, whose route to the final appeared to be eased yesterday when the other three seeds in her half of the draw, Germany’s Karin Schnaase, who beat Gilmour at last year’s World Championships, Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet and Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva, all made surprise early exits.

Two more Scots who are meanwhile already pushing on at an electrifying rate are Glasgow’s Grimley twins Christopher and Matthew who at 15 years old may be boys among men in chronological terms but once again demonstrated maturity beyond their years in offering the latest indication of their huge potential.

They were already considered to have done exceptionally well to come through qualifying to reach the main draw in the men’s doubles, but experienced observers reckoned their achievement in winning their way through to the last 16 of a Grand Prix event was pretty much unprecedented as they swept aside the vastly more experienced English combination of Darren Adamson and Scott Sankey, 21-13, 21-15 and they revelled in the opportunity to perform in such a major event in their home city.

"It's a great arena to play in and it's a great crowd to play for. They help us play better and their support drives us on," said Matthew… (or it might have been Christopher)

"We weren't really expecting to win but we put in a good game.”

He added that their principal target at the event was not to win it but to put in a good performance, but it is getting to the stage where nothing should be considered beyond them.

Lanarkshire pair Jamie Neill and Alex Dunn, relative veterans at 20 and 17 respectively, followed the Bellahouston School of Sport pair into the second round with another straight sets win over English opponents, beating Jonathan Mcdonald and Andrew Wainwright 21-12, 21-18.

Playing with Robert Blair, the veteran who won the mixed doubles here with Imogen Bankier last year, another bright Scottish prospect, 19-year-old Adam Hall, just missed out as they were beaten in three sets by Germans Raphael Beck and Peter Kaesbauer having shown considerable character to keep the match alive by winning an epic second set 27-25.