13 March 2024
Lauren Smith and Marcus Ellis will look to keep English hopes alive at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships 2024.
The mixed doubles pair are the last home favourites left after Ben Lane and Sean Vendy’s men’s doubles first-round loss on Wednesday.
They take on Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia who knocked out the fifth seeds to reach the second round.
The tie, which is sixth on Minoru Yoneyama Court, will be a rematch from the Malaysia Open earlier in the year in which Ferdinansyah and Widjaja won in three games.
Smith said: “We played our next opponents in January, and we lost 21-19 in the third, so it was tiny, tiny margins that made the difference.
🧡 Orange or Grey? 🩶
Hear from Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith as they give their verdict on the new YONEX All England Open courts! #YAE24 #AllOfBadminton pic.twitter.com/JjxZ8EExpo
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) March 12, 2024
“It’s a pair that we like to play. It’s a pair that we know we’ve got the right style for if we play a consistent match.
“But we’ll look at that game, start preparing, have a little bit of a mental reset, have a good rest and go again and just give it our best as always.”
Great fight between the English pairs today 🔥 What it means 💥 ❤️ 💯 #TeamEngland #YAE24 #AllofBadminton pic.twitter.com/CV4rMm66iS
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) March 12, 2024
Smith and Ellis knocked out their Greg and Jenny Mairs in a scrappy first-round encounter.
Advance to the quarter-finals and they could face top seeds and defending champions Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong.
Be part of All The Action at the All England. Tickets are still available at allenglandbadminton.com. Can’t be in Birmingham this week? You can still see badminton’s most prestigious tournament play out on BBC Sport and TNT Sports. Don’t miss a minute!
