European bronze medallists Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork just failed to repeat their Yonex All England victory over defending world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl when they met in the third round of the mixed doubles at the Yonex BWF World Championships in Paris today.

The England pair lost a thrilling 67-minute match 20-22 21-12 21-18 after clawing their way back from 14-8 down in the decider to within one point of the Danes at 14-13, 17-16 and 19-18.

But 15th seeds Robertson and Wallwork just couldn't get their noses in front and the second-seeded Danes, who had clearly been rattled by the strong comeback, held their nerve to book their place in the quarter-finals.

The England pair had trailed 15-12 and 18-15 in the opening game before pulling up to 20-20 at which point Laybourn needed treatment on his hip after hurting himself diving in vain to reach a net shot. He recovered but Robertson and Wallwork promptly snaffled the next two points.

But the Danes took control right from the off in the second and took it on their second game point.

They started just as strongly in the decider and looked to have a winning lead at 14-8 before the England stars launched that dogged fightback. But it was just not enough to turn the contest their way.

 Robertson has another chance to reach the quarter-finals when he and Anthony Clark tackled the men's doubles third round. But again Robertson was up against China's defending champions in Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, who also won the title in 2006 when they beat Clark and Robert Blair in the final.

Today Robertson and Clark were never in the hunt in a 24-minute 21-6 21-9 defeat which left Clark admitting "it was a bit embarrassing."

"They were playing af a different level," added Clark. "There's no way we can replicate that in training. You could have 10 players against us on court and it still wouldn't be the same. it's that hard playing against two players so powerful, skilful and strong."

Robertson said: "It didn't help that I had to play a long mixed doubles (67 minutes) just a few hours earlier - and then having to face the fastest players in the world.

"And this is the hottest we have had to play in in the last 10 years. At least in Asia we have air conditioning in the halls. In this heat you just don't have time to recover."

Clark said they could now have a week of what is called "active rest" before stepping up their preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.

In one of the fourth day's final matches Rajiv Ouseph faces top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the men's singles. And he goes into the match boosted by climbing up three places in today's new world ranking list to a career-best No. 14.

To follow results and schedule check out www.tournamentsoftware.com