March 2012 All News

Chris and Imogen All Eng 2012
07.03.12

What a day for GB stars at Yonex All England Championships

Chris Adcock and Andrew Ellis produced a storming comeback to reach the second round of the men's doubles at the Yonex All England Open Championships.

Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork then gave England their second win of the day in the mixed doubles before Adcock returned to the court with Imogen Bankier to win a late-night thriller against world champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.

The Anglo-Scottish pair won a gripping 105-minute contest 16-21 21-19 21-19 on their fifth match point after winning eight points in a row from 13-11 down.

And the first-round action reached a crescendo at 2.20am when Rajv Ouseph defeated Peter Gade for the first time in eight meetings on the world circuit, winning 16-21 21-16 21-14.

Adcock and Ellis lost the first game to Indonesia's Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan before hitting back to topple the world No 10s and boost their hopes of qualifying to represent Great Britain at London 2012.

Adcock and Ellis, the world No 27s, lost the first game 21-13 but opened up a 13-6 lead in the second game only for the Indonesians to pull back to 18-17. But Adcock and Ellis resisted the challenge to level the match 21-17.

Andy Ellis and Chris Adcock 1st round All Eng 2012

In the decider they raced into an
11-2 lead and kept control to take the match 21-13 and make it 2-0 in head-to-head clashes, having beaten the Indonesians in the 2010 French Open.

Ellis said: "I think that's some of the best badminton we have played. I think losing the first game spurred us on."

In the last 16 tomorrow they are likely to face Korean second seeds Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae.

Later Robertson and Wallwork booked their place in the last 16 when they defeated world No 11 pair Songphon Anugritaywon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-18 21-18.

In the first game the Thai pair led 9-6 and 18-16 before Robertson and Wallwork reeled off five points in a row to take the first game.

The second game saw Robertson and Wallwork moved ahead from 2-2 and were never headed, winning in 37 minutes.

In the last 16 they will now face Taiwan's fifth seeds Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Hsing.

But the match of the day was always going to be the repeat of the World final between Adcock and Bankier against the world champions and top seeds.

Adcock and Bankier, who had beaten Zhang and Zhao for the first time in the Korea Open first round in January, did it again in another intriguing contest.

Their reward is a last 16 clash with Korea's Yoo Yeon Seong and Jang Ye Na.

Wallwork was back on court as midnight approached and she and Gabby White, who had battled through yesterday's qualifying rounds, went down
21- 16 21-10 against top seeds and defending champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang.

And it was 1.10am when England No. 1 Rajiv Ouseph came on court five hours after his scheduled start time to face Denmark's 1999 champion Peter Gade. Exactly 70 minutes later Ouseph had not only taken a game off Gade for the first time in a ranking tournament but he had swept to an unexpected victory against the 35-year-old playing his last All England.

Ouseph dropped the first game 21-17 but edged the second 21-16 before racing into a 12-1 lead in the decider helped by a nine-point burst. Gade pulled his way back to 19-14 before Ouseph won the next two points to earn a second-round clash with Malaysian qualifier Daren Liew.

Rajiv beats Peter GadeEarlier in the day Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver lost for the second week running against Japan's sixth seeds Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito, having also lost to them in the Yonex German Open in Mulheim last week
21-10 21-10.

Scotland's Robert Blair and Jillie Cooper went out of the mixed doubles, beaten 21-15 21-17 by Indonesia's Muhammad Rijal and Debby Susanto.

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