Scotland's leading pair of Alan Clyne and Harry Leitch were pushed all the way by compatriots Dougie Kempsell and Lyall Paterson when play in the Sterling Trucks British Open Doubles Championships got under way at Scotstoun yesterday.
A relatively low-level event within the wider professional squash scene, the tournament is vital to the prospects of those taking part and in particular the Scottish pairs in terms of Commonwealth Games selection and seedings. And this was reflected in the intensity of the first tie.
Kempsell and Paterson took the opening game before Clyne and Leitch rallied to secure victory after a hard-fought decider 8-11, 11-6, 11-9. Clyne, who is Scotland's top-ranked singles player by a comfortable margin, and Leitch, with whom he reached the semi-finals in Delhi four years ago, are certain to be paired together again for this year's Games, but Roger Flynn, the national team's head coach, has mixed things up among the rest of the men's squad.
He is looking for the best possible combinations with three players to be selected from five contenders: Kempsell, Paterson, Greg Lobban - Scotland's No.2 singles player who has been rising rapidly up the individual world rankings but will probably not qualify for the Games in singles - Stuart Crawford and Kevin Moran.
With very few doubles events on the calendar, every performance in a credible open event can make a difference to seeding, so, as well as getting vital match practice, Clyne and Leitch also have a great incentive in an event which follows directly after last weekend's Edinburgh Open.
"There are no official world rankings for doubles so it is critical for us to make sure our players get the best draw in pools [in Glasgow 2014]," said Flynn. "The last thing we want is to get into pools with previous medallists in the early stages. We need to be getting through to meet players from the sorts of countries in the knockout stages to give ourselves a realistic chance of medals."
From the coach's perspective, it is also a rare opportunity to weigh up players in a competitive environment in what is a very different version of the game from singles.
"Lyall isn't a singles player other than in local competitions and Harry Leitch is the same," said Flynn. "They work full-time and are not professional players as such, but they work very, very hard at their doubles training and it is not so much about who the two individuals are, it's about how well they work together to exploit the weaknesses in the other team.
"We've always worked on that as being the key to what we do and we know that, if we do it well enough, we can beat any team that's out there. So events like this bring the sort of competition we need; it gives me an opportunity to bring my players together into the Commonwealth Games venue and let them experience the nerves and the edginess."
So far, one pairing in each discipline has been decided for the Games, with Frania Gillen-Buchert and Alex Clark the only women's pair who will represent Scotland and Clyne and Gillen-Buchert combining in the mixed.
That leaves a men's and a mixed pairing still to be decided, so Flynn has shaken things up by breaking up the established pairing of Paterson and Clark to give Kevin Moran a chance to stake a claim in mixed doubles, while Paterson and Kempsell are forming a new partnership in a bid to put pressure on Lobban and Crawford.
Scottish Squash and Racketball also hope to establish this week whether they will be able to put together a bid to bring the World Doubles Open to Glasgow ahead of the Games, which would give the players an opportunity for further match practice, albeit it would take place too late to affect seedings.
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