MAUCHLINE badminton star, Holly Newall, has reached the main draw of the Scottish Open Grand Prix at the Emirates Arena after what she says is the best win of her career so far.

The 16-year-old successfully negotiated two qualifying rounds of the women’s singles to reach this stage, where she will face Swiss player Sabrina Jaquet today (Thursday November 20).

Having come through a close contest to defeat England’s Jessica Hopton, she went on to knock out higher-ranked French player, Anne Tran, in her second victory of the day on Wednesday.

Holly said: “ That was definitely the best ever performance of my career. I felt I played well in my first match but I knew I was the underdog going into the match with Tran, as she is ranked much higher.

Her next opponent, Sabrina Jaquet, is ranked 49th in the world, and the match will give Holly an opportunity to gauge her progress at senior tournament level.

It was quite a day for the teenager, who also earned a place in the mixed doubles main draw when she and Alex Dunn were promoted into the first round to face Denmark’s Mathias Christensen and Lena Grebak.