English pairs bow out in quarter finals in Birmingham

BOTH English pairs went crashing out of the mixed doubles quarter finals to end any home interest at the All England Championships in Birmingham.

LAST EIGHT: Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork crash out of the All England Championships after a straight games defeat in their quarter final in Birmingham (Alex Roache)

Former All England champion Nathan Robertson and partner Jenny Wallwork knocked out world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in the previous round in Birmingham.

And while they held their own against Indonesia's second seeds Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir in their last eight match, the English pair lost two tight games to lose 21-18, 21-19.

Anthony Clark and Heather Olver had also impressed at the NIA, romping into the last eight without dropping a game.

But the duo met their match in the form of South Korea's third seeds Yong Dae Lee and Hyo Jung Lee and also lost two close games, eventually going down 21-19, 21-17.

Elsewhere, singles top seeds Chong Wei Lee and Yihan Wang made smooth progress into the semi finals.

Malaysian Lee came from a game down to beat South Korea's Wan Ho Shon to set up a semi final clash with Denmark's Peter Hoeg Gade.

Meanwhile, Wang dropped the middle set before prevailing against Hong Kong's Mi Zhou and will face compatriot Xin Wang in the last four of the women's event.