By Val Febbo
The scenarios of progression to the semifinals of the first three disciplines at Glasgow 2026 have been made clearer for Australia’s Jackaroos after a big day of action at the Scottish Event Campus.
Women’s pairs
After a minor bump in the road on day one, Dawn Hayman and Kelsey Cottrell rebounded in fine fashion to go unblemished as they push for their place in the knocout rounds.
The pair opened the morning with a 10-2, 5-4 win over the Isle of Man’s Caroline Whitehead and Paula Garrett to give themselves an abundance of confidence.
Racing to a 10-0 lead after three ends, the Australians maintained a stranglehold on the first set to ensure that the lead would be unassailable before the final end.
Hayman and Cottrell began the second strongly before Whithead and Garrett mounted a small fightback, however it was not enough to overcome the Australians as they gained a vital second win of Glasgow 2026.
Their following match against Singapore’s Janice Tan and Ai Lin Cheo would be just as clinical, taking the contest 6-4 8-0 to stake really stake their claim for a knockout place.
Both were on song as they fought off any challenge from Tan and Cheo, storming home without blemish after taking the opening set.
Hayman and Cottrell are back in action tomorrow against Niue’s Catherine Papani and Christine Ioane (Sunday 6:55pm AEST)
Men’s singles
Aaron Wilson’s quest for the elusive three-peat remains well and truly on track thanks to a magnificent 6-3, 7-5 salutation against the Isle of Man’s Mark McGreal.
McGreal came out hot, taking an early lead before the Australian netted a huge full count to take control before holding off his counterpart to take the opener.
Set two could not have started any better for the two-time defending champion, netting a full count of four to leave McGreal with it all to do in the ensuing ends.
With victory tantalisingly close, Wilson would be able to hold off a mightily strong test from his opponent to take the victory and edge ever closer to a semifinal place.
Wilson’s next contest will be tomorrow against the Cook Islands’ Royden Aperau (Sunday 8:20pm AEST).
Vision Impaired mixed pairs
It was a trying day for Jacky Hudson (Claire Turley director) and Jake Fehlberg (Karen Murphy AM director), going winless from their two games and now needing to defeat England in straight sets in their final pool match to progress to the semis.
The first contest against Scotland’s Mary Stevenson (James Aitken director) and Robert Barr (Sarah-Jane Ewing director) saw the home nation take a 5-5, 10-0 victory in what was a nearly contest for the Australians.
The pair were holding set in the opener before Barr, a gold medallist from four years ago, managed to produce a brilliant delivery to tie the set.
Scotland would then have all the answers in the second to take the victory and apply pressure on the green and gold for their second match against New Zealand.
Despite holding a 5-2 lead going into the final end against the Blackjacks’ Sonya Woodrow (Kimberley Carraher director) and Kerrin Wheeler (Colin Wheeler director), the Australians would go down 6-5, 7-1.
Wheeler would play a bomb with his last in the first set to seal a four for New Zealand, before keeping the foot on the throat to take the second.
Hudson and Fehlberg will play their final sectional match against England’s Ron Homer and Sally-Ann Lewis-Wall tomorrow (Monday 5:25am AEST).
