Scotland stunned defending champions Germany by winning both singles in their Group 3 decider at badminton's European Team Championships in Belgium on the way to a dramatic 3-2 victory.
From 2-0 down, the Germans hit back to take the women's and men's doubles to make it 2-2 before double Scottish Open Grand Prix winners Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier won the deciding contest against world No.10s Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels 12-21 21-12 21-18, helped by a nine point burst from 6-3 down in the final game.
The result means the Scots top the group but both teams progress to tomorrow's quarter-finals following Spain's last-minute withdrawal but they will have to wait until tonight's draw following the evening session to see who they face next.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kirsty Gilmour avenged her World Championships defeat by Karin Schnaase with a confident display on the way to a 21-15 21-15 victory in the opening 42-minute contest where she led virtually all the way in each game.
Then Kieran Merrilees produced a battling victory by defeating Dieter Domke 23-21 13-21 22-20 after a 60-minute duel. Merrilees took the opener with a delicate cross shot on his fourth game point before letting Domke dominate the second game.
The four-time Yonex Scottish National men's singles champion got off to a flier in the decider by leading 5-0 and although the German was level by 9-9, Merrilees surged again to lead 17-12 only for his opponent to reel off eight points in a row to stand on the brink of victory at 20-17 with three match points.
But Merrilees responded in the best possible way to take the next five points and the contest against a player ranked 72 places above him at world No. 60.
Gilmour returned to action in the women's doubles with Imogen Bankier but the Scottish National champions went down in two close games with world No.28s Carla Nelte and Johanna Goliszewski 21-17 22-20 despite holding game point at 20-19 in the second.
In the men's doubles Martin Campbell and Paul Van Rietvelde took on Max Schwenger and Josche Zurwonne and the world No. 27s took the contest 21-5 21-17 to make it 2-2 in the tie and set up the mixed doubles decider won by Blair and Bankier.
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