Josh Taylor and Evan Kenny provided Scotland’s leading result at the Polish International by reaching the last 16 of the men’s doubles in Krakow. The pair advanced with a controlled straight-games win over Slovakia’s Richard Pavlik and Matus Polacek before sixth seeds Torjus Flaatten and Jonas Østhassel ended their run.
Taylor and Kenny set the tone against Pavlik and Polacek by taking the opening game 21-11. They maintained the pressure in the second and completed the win 21-13. That performance earned a meeting with the seeded Norwegian pair, who progressed 21-15, 21-12.
Scottish pair convert their opportunity
The two matches presented different tests. Taylor and Kenny established an early advantage against the Slovakian pair and did not allow the contest to move into a deciding game. Against Flaatten and Østhassel, they stayed closer in the opening game but could not extend the match.
Reaching the last 16 was therefore built on one decisive win rather than a favourable passage through the draw. The scoreline against Pavlik and Polacek shows that the Scots created clear separation in both games. Their subsequent defeat gives the result useful context: they advanced, then met an experienced seeded partnership and were beaten in straight games.
Stalker and McCallister push Polish opponents
Brooke Stalker and Ishbel McCallister took their women’s doubles match against Anna Czuchra and Kinga Stokfisz to three games. The Scottish pair won the first 21-18, lost the second 21-18 and were beaten 21-10 in the decider by the home combination.
The deciding-game margin should not obscure how long the match remained competitive. Stalker and McCallister took the opening game and stayed within three points in the second before Czuchra and Stokfisz pulled away in the third. Their tournament ended there, but the match supplied a sustained test against international opposition.
Earlier singles and mixed doubles tests
Scotland’s week had already included several close contests. McCallister and Taylor pushed seventh seeds Sobolewski and Sobolewska in mixed doubles, with the Polish pair taking the deciding game 22-20. James Robertson also made third seed Szymanowski work for a 21-18, 23-21 singles victory.
Matthew Waring was beaten 21-16, 21-11 by Finland’s Melleri. Those results meant the later doubles programme became Scotland’s remaining route into the deeper stages, and Taylor and Kenny took that chance by winning their opening main-draw assignment.
What Scotland can take from Krakow
The most tangible outcome is the men’s doubles last-16 place. It came alongside two matches in which Scottish players took Polish opposition to deciding games, plus Robertson’s narrow second-game defeat against a seeded player. Together, those performances show competitiveness across several disciplines without overstating a tournament in which the Scottish challenge ended before the closing rounds.
For Taylor and Kenny, the benchmark is clear. They beat an international pair convincingly and then faced the higher standard represented by the sixth seeds. For Stalker and McCallister, the three-game loss identified both their ability to win a tight opening game and the difficulty of sustaining that level through a decider. The week produced no Scottish title, but it did produce results that can be measured rather than described only as experience.
The score patterns also separate the positive moments from the final outcomes. Scotland won games in men’s, women’s and mixed doubles, yet only Taylor and Kenny converted that competitiveness into a place in the last 16. Their 42 points won against the Slovakian pair and the narrower opening game against the Norwegian seeds provide the most useful performance markers from the closing day.