Badminton: Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock beat rivals in thriller

SCOTLAND’S Imogen Bankier and England’s Chris Adcock had to save three match points before beating GB Olympic rivals Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork in an incredible duel at the Swiss Open in Basel.

Bankier and Adcock took the 68-minute contest 19-21 21-11 25-23 on their second match point.

Both pairs went into the match boosted by a rise in the world rankings after their successes last week in reaching the quarter-finals at the Yonex All England Open Championships. Bankier and Adcock moved up three places back to No 14 while Robertson and Wallwork went up two places to No 17.

Had they both won their quarter-finals last week they would have met in the semi-finals. Instead, yesterday’s clash was their second meeting with Robertson and Wallwork having come out on top in a three-game contest at the Malaysian Open in January.

Bankier and Adcock now have the chance to consolidate the ranking points advantage they hold over their rivals which will now increase to at least 2,000 after yesterday’s result.

Robertson and Wallwork came flying out of the traps in the first game and raced into a 5-0 lead but were pushed all the way before taking the opener 21-19.

Bankier and Adcock made the early running in the second game only for Robertson and Wallwork to level at 4-4 before their rivals reeled off five points in a row to lead 9-4 and edged to 11-8 by the interval. Then they stepped on the accelerator from 12-9 to reel off another five-point burst to 17-9 before levelling the contest 21-11 on their second game point.

In the decider Bankier and Adcock led 3-0 and continued to make the early running before Robertson and Wallwork caught them up and then went ahead for the first time in the game at 9-8 and reached the mid-game interval leading 11-10.

Robertson and Wallwork produced daylight at 14-12 but Bankier and Adcock hit back with a three-point burst to lead 15-14 before Robertson and Wallwork levelled again at 15-15 and it went point for point until Robertson and Wallwork snatched a match point at 20-19 after an hour on court only for Bankier and Adcock to save it.

Then it was Adcock and Bankier’s turn for match point at 21-20 but Robertson and Wallwork saved it. Bankier and Adcock had to save another match point at 22-21 and another at 23-22 as they put in a crucial three-point burst to snatch victory on their second match point after 68 minutes.

In the quarter-finals today Bankier and Adcock will face sixth seeds Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand or Japan’s Kenichi Hayakawa and Misaki Matsutomo.