England’s three men’s singles hopes are safely through to today’s first round at the Yonex Canada Open in Richmond, British Columbia.

Third seed Rajiv Ouseph, the three-times English National champion from Middlesex, eased through his opening contest 21-9 21-15 against Arnold Setiadi of the United States.

The world No 23, England’s highest player on the world rankings, now faces France’s Simon Maunoury in today’s second round with the winner back in action later in the day to face Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees or Czech 10th seed Petr Koukal tonight.

Sixth seed Carl Baxter, twice runner-up to Ouseph at the Nationals, was made to work a lot harder to reach the second round. He was involved in one of the longest matches of the first round as he took 71 minutes to get the better of Austria’s Michael Lahnsteiner 24-22 16-21 21-19. The Avon player, ranked No 28 in the world, meets Canada’s David Snider next.

Surrey’s Ben Beckman joined Ouseph and Baxter in the second round with a 21-9 21-10 win over Christopher Flores of the Philippines. His second-round opponent is French seventh seed and world No 40 Brice Leverdez, who is ranked 67 places above him.

But there was disappointment in the women’s singles where all three England players fell at the first hurdle.

Jersey’s four-times National champion Elizabeth Cann went out 21-13 21-11 to sixth seed Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland, Sarah Walker of Essex lost 21-11 21-23 21-12 to Shizuka Uchida of Japan and Rachel Howard of Hertfordshire was beaten 21-13 21-9 by top seed Pi Hongyan of France.

One of the best England wins on day one came from Chris Langridge (Surrey) and 19-year-old Alyssa Lim (Bucks) in the mixed doubles. They knocked out the eighth seeded Peruvian pair Mario Cuba and Catherine Winder 21-14 21-11. In the second round they face Canada’s Kevin Li and Alex Bruce.

Langridge made it double success when he and Andrew Ellis, the seventh seeds in the men’s doubles, prevailed in three games against Kim Young Sun and Lee Jung Hwan 21-9 12-21 21-10. They meet another Korean pair in Choi Young Woo and Jang Sung Ho in the second round.

To follow today’s results check out www.tournamentsoftware.com