Sophie Sinclair and Robin Brydone have become the latest pair to double up as national champions after coming through a powerful field to take the title in the Scottish Mixed Doubles Championship at Curl Aberdeen.
Entering the competition as an untried pairing, they had lost their opening two matches in the short, five match round-robin stage, but turned their campaign around with an impressive 8-4 victory over former world champions Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat to spark a six match winning run which ended with a defeat of their regular teammates from the men’s and women’s game, Duncan McFadzean and Sophie Jackson, the defending champions.
The quality of a field comprised of 11 pairings was demonstrated by the presence of three former Mixed Doubles World Champions and from the team game two Olympic Gold Medallists, three men’s World Champions, who have also combined to win nine Grand Slams and two World Junior Championship winning skips. 
Yet not one of those players was to make it to the semi-finals, such was the cut-throat nature of the competition, 2021 World Champions Dodds and Mouat, along with 2022 World Champion Bobby Lammie, who won that title with Eve Muirhead and is now playing with Rebecca Morrison, all going out in the round-robin stage.
Since those pairings had led the way when Scottish teams dominated two recent tournaments in Switzerland - Dodds and Mouat winning in Gstaad while Morrison and Lammie won in Bern - that opened up the draw, albeit reigning champions Jackson and McFadzean were still very much to the fore as an established partnership.
Even they had only squeezed into the play-offs, though, finishing third in their six team section behind leaders Katie McMillan and Angus Bryce and second-placed Sinclair and Brydone, but they then powered through their quarter-final, beating Fay Henderson and Grant Hardie 8-0, before edging McMillan and Bryce out in the semis with a steal at the extra end to win 7-6.
Sinclair and Brydone had meanwhile beaten Amy Mitchell and Kaleb Johnston 9-6 in the quarter-final, then Lisa Davie and Mark Watt 8-7 in a hard fought semi-final, to get to the decider.
They took control of that final with a three at the opening end before stealing at the next to move 4-0 up and while Jackson and McFadzean threatened a comeback when they scored one at the third, then stole at the next to close to 4-2, another three at the fifth end put Sinclair and Brydone back in charge as they eased to victory.
“We’re both absolutely thrilled,” said Sinclair.
“It was a really fun week which we went into without much pressure on us.
“We’d only been entered into the championship this year and had a bit of training together, but hadn’t really played together, so we went in knowing we could definitely put up a good fight, but mainly going in to enjoy it. 
“We definitely started the week a bit slower with two losses, so that wasn’t great, but we had some good chats after those and managed to produce a really good performance against Jen and Bruce.
“From that game on we built momentum which helped us and communication wise we worked really well as a team which was great and we both got stronger and stronger as the week went on.”
Sinclair and Brydone had not been among the five Scottish pairs that made the trip to Swizerland a few weeks earlier and are not among the four heading to Gothenburg for another international mixed doubles event between Christmas and New Year, but they are pleased to have put down a marker.
“Myself and Robin weren’t selected into the mixed doubles squad at the start of the season, so we very much knew going into this event that selection for the Worlds and Olympics wasn’t likely for us, so in some ways we played with no pressure on us,” said Sinclair.
“However, it’s definitely given us some motivation for the following season and hopefully we’ll be able to play together again next season and possibly have a chance at Worlds in the future.”
She is also pleased to have joined regular teammates Jackson and Dodds in having lifted national titles at senior level in both disciplines, while Brydone has similarly matched his teammate McFadzean in doing so.
“Getting this title means a lot,” said Sinclair.
“Any Scottish title is huge and especially now in mixed doubles, where the field is so strong with so many amazing players entering the event now, which is really cool.
“It makes it feel like a really big achievement and it’s great to join some of my teammates who have won this title too.”
Mixed Doubles line-ups
Section A
Sophie Jackson /Duncan McFadzean
Robyn Munro /Orrin Carson
Jen Dodds / Bruce Mouat
Hailey Duff/James Craik
Katie McMillan/Angus Bryce
Sophie Sinclair/Robin Brydone
Section B
Rebecca Morrison /Bobby Lammie
Fay Henderson /Grant Hardie
Lisa Davie/Mark Watt
Amy Mitchell/Kaleb Johnston
Alex McMillan/Lewis McCabe
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Images: PPA/Graeme Hart.
