Badminton machine Ellis doubles up with two Scottish Open titles

Badminton machine Marcus Ellis claims he can see he has the physical edge on his opponents in their eyes after clinching both the men’s and mixed doubles Scottish Open titles.

The St Albans 29-year-old teamed up with Lauren Smith to win the mixed doubles title for a second time as they were handed victory by the retirement of Dutch pair Jacco Arends and Selena Piek.

He then returned to the court a few hours later to repeat the feat in the men’s doubles alongside Chris Langridge against Denmark’s David Daugaard and Frederik Søgaard.

And while Ellis admitted that playing in both events is demanding – after playing ten matches in four days – he was delighted to add yet more silverware to his burgeoning collection.

“These sorts of tournaments it’s very physically challenging, but I’m often playing against people who are also playing in two events and I can see I’m less tired than they are,” he said.

“I found Friday very tough as it was two rounds in both so that was four matches in a day which I think for anyone would be very draining but I managed to get through that.

“As you get later on in the tournament you can start to see the end, whereas on the Friday you’re thinking will it ever end, but I’m happy to win both, it is tough but I’m happy.”

Ellis had already won the men’s doubles title with Peter Mills in 2010, but the trophy was missing from Langridge’s mantelpiece – something they managed to put right in Sunday’s showpiece.

The Commonwealth Games champions and Olympic bronze medallists were pushed all the way by the Danish eighth seeds in the first game but eventually won the match 23-21 21-16.

And despite the top seeds not being at their best in the final, Ellis hailed the growing resilience of their partnership as they came through a testing match to triumph at the Emirates Arena.

“It is a bit of a relief,” said Ellis after his second final. “I don’t think we played our best so that’s the initial feeling we feel at the end of the match, obviously we’re very happy to win.

“I think a couple times this week we could have easily lost, but we just had to battle our way through and we have to be happy we’ve managed to get through.

“We were probably expected to win as we came into the tournament as number one seeds, so we have to see it as job done – winning when we’re not at our best is something we’ve got better at.

“Maybe a year ago we would have thrown matches like that away. We would get frustrated with how the game is going, or if it was not going how we wanted it to.

“But they are the little things you can improve on when you get to a higher level – closing games out when you don’t feel like you’re playing at your best.

“I’m quite proud of us that we managed to be able to do that this week and in general we have played well, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves or go away feeling negative.”

Earlier in the day, Ellis and Smith also secured victory in the mixed doubles final, after Arends was forced to pull out with an injury, having already fallen 13-6 behind the English pair.

And while Ellis conceded it was not the way they wanted to win the title, he believes the win was further proof of the progress his partnership with Smith has made over the past year.

“It is genuinely a horrible way to win,” Ellis said. “I know we’ve come away with the title, but you want to win by being the best player or pair on the court.

“I think we were demonstrating that from the beginning, but it’s horrible to see anyone go out like that and we can only hope that it’s not as serious as it looked.

“I think the progress we’ve made in this last year has been more than we thought it would, we’ve gone from strength to strength and even now I feel there’s massive gaps in our game.

“There are things we need to improve on which is a good thing because if you can’t find areas to improve you’re a bit stuck, so hopefully next year we can push on.”

Ellis and Smith now have one last assignment before the year is out after qualifying for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals – and achievement that has taken them both by surprise.

“At the beginning of the year I don’t think it was on our radar to be honest, we set a tournament plan and we have stuck to it – we haven’t changed anything really,” he said.

“We feel very lucky that we’ve managed to qualify, but along the way we’ve put in some very good performances and I think we deserve to be there.”

The Scottish Open Badminton Championships are being staged at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow from November 21-25 by Badminton Scotland with support from Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. Tickets are on sale now at www.badmintonscotland.org.uk