Bronze medallist powers through to place in last 16
HUDDERSFIELD’S Marcus Ellis powered to two victories on a thrilling first day of the Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham.
The 2016 Olympic bronze medallist booked his place in the last 16 of both the men’s and mixed doubles in front of a raucous English crowd, joining forces with Lauren Smith and Chris Langridge.
The decorated 30-year-old eased past Japanese mixed pair Takuro Hoki and Wakana Nagahara 21-9 21-15 alongside Smith, teeing up a second round clash with fourth seeds Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
And in the men’s competition Ellis and Langridge beat Di Zijian and
Wang Chang after a pulsating third game decider, coming through 21-16 to book a date with world No.5s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
“Both of these matches in the first round were real banana skins, but at the same time they were really winnable,” Ellis said.
“This is really, really big for me and Chris, even just winning this game – it’s not even just in regards to points, and it’s just really, really important for our partnership in the doubles.
“And when Lauren and I are at our best we just make ourselves very, very hard to beat.”
Smith first helped Ellis breeze pasty Hoki and Nagahara yesterday afternoon, before also turning her attention to another format as she teamed up with Chloe Birch.
And that duo toppled German pairing Linda Efler and Isabel Herttrich 21-18 21-14 under the Arena Birmingham lights, lining up a tantalising date with destiny against world No.1s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan.
“Performing in this tournament is important, it’s one of the big ones and it’s highly-regarded among the badminton community, and it’s our home tournament, so I would absolutely love to perform well here,” Smith said.
“I’ve grown up watching it so it’s got a lot of prestige, but I think the important thing is not getting caught up in the occasion – you’ve got to focus on performing day by day, and controlling the controllables.”
It was first round heartbreak for Chris and Gabrielle Adcock in the mixed doubles, however, as the world No.13s lost a disappointing three game encounter with eighth seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
The experienced double act restored parity at one game apiece after a brilliant 21-17 victory in game two, but lost the decider 21-12 to dash their hopes of a triumph on home soil.
“It’s still massive playing in front of a home crowd, obviously it’s our favourite tournament and we love playing here,” Gabrielle said.
“Even though we’ve lost I’m just happy that we’ve got on court and that we’ve got a tournament next week that I’m going to get ready for.”