TEENAGE Scottish tennis players Jacob Fearnley and Connor Thomson fell agonisingly short of on one of the biggest scalps of their young careers as the action continued at the Glasgow Trophy at Scotstoun Leisure Centre yesterday, writes Stewart Fisher.

Fearnley, a 16-year-old from Edinburgh, and Thomson, a 17-year-old from Renfrewshire, had both performed creditably to no avail against much-vaunted opponents in the early stages of the singles event at this ATP Challenger Tour event, the biggest tournament to hit Scotland for quite some time. Teaming up yesterday in the doubles, they were on the cusp of a famous victory against Alessandro Bega of Italy and his Austrian partner Lucas Miedler when they claimed the first set 6-3 then took the second into a tie-break. But it was another tough lesson when they lost the breaker 9-7 then couldn’t prevent the vastly experienced duo closing out the championship tie-breaker 10-6.

Visitors are in for a further treat today when their fellow teenager Aidan McHugh, a 17-year-old from Glasgow who is a protégé of Andy Murray’s from his 77 Sports Management Group, tests himself against David Guez of France, no earlier than 4.30pm today. McHugh, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open boys’ competition in Melbourne this January, is less than half the age of his 35-year-old opponent, a former World No 116 who is the No 3 seed here.