England’s mixed doubles stars Anthony Clark and Nathan Robertson are through to the quarter-finals of the Yonex All England Championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham tomorrow night (Fri).

Robertson and Jenny Wallwork defeated Danish world champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl 21-14 16-21 21-15.

That earned the former All England and world mixed champion and partner Wallwork a last-eight clash with former double world champions Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia.

Robertson, of course, partnered Gail Emms to victory over Laybourn and Juhl in the 2005 final.

Clark and Olver, who played their first tournament together at the Malaysian Open in January, joined them in the last eight with a tense 21-18 22-20 win over Lee Sheng Mu and Chien Yu Chin of Taipei.

Olver and Clark, who was runner-up in the mixed doubles in 2007 with Donna Kellogg, will tackle Olympic champions and third seeds Lee Yong Dae and Lee Hyon Jung of Korea.

If both England pairs win they will meet in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Hopes of a third quarter-finalist were dashed when Robert Blair and Glasgow’s Imogen Bankier were forced to withdraw because of Blair’s back injury.

Earlier in the day singles hopes Rajiv Ouseph and Andrew Smith both went crashing. Ouseph went out to 2008 winner Chen Jin of China 23-21 21-8 while Smith bowed out for the second year running to 2004 Olympic and 2005 world champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 21-18 21-14.

In the women’s singles Glasgow’s Commonwealth bronze medallist Susan Egelstaff lost to China’s sixth seed Lu Lan 25-23 20-22 21-17 in a gripping contest.

In the level doubles Clark and Robertson, the Singapore Open winners, went down 21-14 21-11 to China’s seventh seeds Guo Zhendong and Xu Chen while Leeds pair Wallwork and Gabby White lost to sixth seeds Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna 21-23 21-9 21-8 in the women’s doubles.

For full results check out www.tournamentsoftware.com