Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith were beaten in a second-round thriller as a number of English players returned to the world stage at the YONEX Swiss Open.
The world No.9 pair were disappointed to slip out in the round of 32 at last week’s YONEX All England and came out firing in the opening round in Basel, Switzerland.
Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari felt the full force of that determination as Ellis and Smith beat them 21-14 21-19 in 41 minutes.
They faced Germany’s Jones Ralfy Jansen and Linda Efler and a grandstand contest ensued, with English pair winning the first game and the Germans coming back to take the second and third in a see-saw success.
Ben Lane and Sean Vendy reached the same stage of the Super 300 event thanks to an emphatic first-round victory before withdrawing from the second.
Callum Hemming and Jessica Pugh lost their mixed doubles battle of Britain, going down 21-14 21-14 to Scotland’s Adam Hall and Julie MacPherson.
One of a number of pairs stepping back onto the BWF World Tour for the first time in 2022, Greg Mairs and Jenny Moore lost 21-18 21-14 to France’s Fabien Delrue and Vimala Heriau at the qualification stage.
Rory Easton and Zach Russ, returning after an excellent 2021 season, won the opening game of their first-round match 30-28, before losing the next two games.
Back after an injury-affected end to last year, Toby Penty went down 22-20 21-12 to Finland’s Kalle Koljonen.
Chloe Birch and Jessica Pugh, coming on the back of a memorable YONEX All England campaign, couldn’t maintain that momentum and succumbed 21-19 21-14 to strong Dutch duo Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen.
Meanwhile, Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood lost out 21-14 21-15 to Denmark’s Joel Eipe and Daniel Lundgaard.
