Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were unable to defend their YONEX Swiss Open crown as they fell at the quarter-final stage in Basel.
This competition 12 months ago marked the pair’s first-ever career win at Super 300 level and they went in as fourth seeds on this occasion.
Lane and Vendy began strongly, progressing past French duo Julien Maio and William Villeger 21-18 21-14 in the round of 32 before defeating Yang Liu and Wei Han Zeng 21-19 21-19 in a hard-fought battle.
Thai sixth seeds Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh were next up and they claimed the opener 21-18.
The English pair hit back with a 22-20 win in the second game to set up a decider, which turned into a rollercoaster ride.
Lane and Vendy reeled off six straight points to go from 16-12 down to 18-16 in front but their opponents recovered their composure to win five consecutive points of their own and claim the spoils.
The pair went into the competition ranked a career-high ninth in the world rankings and, speaking ahead of the action, performance director Morten Frost said: “It is massive, to them it is a great achievement. To be 11th, 12th, 13th in the world ranking, it is like climbing Mount Everest to get into the top 10. It looks like it is feasible and possible, but it is getting so close to get into the top 10.
“It is a major achievement to be there now and hopefully they can keep it up. They have done really well, and it is a massive for Badminton England, for the programme that we are running and it is showing it is possible.
“We have very young team and I believe that in the years to come there will be more good things to come and this is a very good start and I’m very proud.”
Elsewhere in the men’s doubles draw, Callum Hemming and Ethan van Leeuwen began with a 21-16 19-21 21-16 victory over Wu Hsuan-yi and Chiang Chien-Wei.
That set up a last 16 clash with second seeds Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani and the English duo battled bravely to take it to a decider, ultimately going down 18-21 21-16 13-21.
Hemming teamed up with Estelle van Leeuwen in the mixed doubles and the pair’s journey ended at the round of 32 stage as they were beaten in straight games by Jiang Zhenbang and Huang Donping, both former world number ones.
