Elizabeth Cann pulled off one of the biggest wins of her career today when she defeated third seed Pi Hongyan in the Yonex French Open second round in Paris.

The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, who had never beaten the French ace in four previous meetings, stormed to victory 21-13 21-12.

That earned the four-times English National champion from Jersey a quarter-final clash with Thailand’s Portntip Buranaprasertsuk tomorrow.

England were on a quarter-final charge in the Coubertin Stadium with three-times National champion and Commonwealth silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph also reaching the last eight of the men’s singles with a 21-13 21-11 win over Scott Evans of Ireland. Ouseph now meets second seed and former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.

And three doubles pairs are also through to the quarter-finals with with possibly more to come.

Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork were the first pair through in the mixed doubles. Robertson and Wallwork, the Denmark Open runners-up, took just 23 minutes to brush their way past Ukraine’s Valeriy Atrashchenkov and Elena Prus and record the first win of the day in the Coubertin Stadium.

The sixth seeds won 21-16 21-13 to book a quarter-final with fourth seeds Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoughthongkam of Thailand, who knocked out Chris Adcock and Scotland’s Imogen Bankier 21-14 21-11..

Robertson and Wallwork beat the Thai pair in three tight games to reach the final in Odense.

But the big England doubles success of day two was European bronze medallist Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver's win over fourth seeds Paulien Van Dooremalen and Lotte Jonathans to avenge their defeat by the Dutch pair at the same stage in last week's Denmark Open.

The England pair won 21-17 16-21 21-18 in exactly one hour, coming back from 17-15 down in the decider to take victory on their first match point.

Adcock made up for his mixed doubles disappointment when he and Andrew Ellis followed up their victory over third seeds Hendra Gunawan and Alvent Chandra on day one by beating German pair Michael Fuchs and Oliver Roth in another thriller. The England pair won 21-19 19-21 22-20 but not without a real scare.

They took a tight opening game and almost won in straight games when they recovered from 19-13 down in the second to draw level at 19-19 only for Fuchs and Roth to take the next two points to force the decider.

And in the third game Adcock and Ellis had to save four match points after trailing 20-16 before snatching victory on their first match point.

Thursday’s second-round schedule and results

Mixed doubles:
(6) Nathan Robertson & Jenny Wallwork (Eng) bt Valeriy Atrashchenkov & Elena Prus (Ukr) 21-16 21-13
(4) Sudket Prapakamol & Saralee Thoungthongkam (Thai) bt Chris Adcock (Eng) & Imogen Bankier (Sco) 21-14 21-11

Women’s doubles:
Mariana Agathangelou & Heather Olver (Eng) bt (4) Lotte Jonathans & Paulien Van Dooremalen (Ned) 21-17 16-21 21-18
3.15pm: (7) Jenny Wallwork & Gabby White (Eng) v Lena Frier Kristiansen & Marie Roepke (Den)

Men’s doubles
Chris Adcock & Andrew Ellis (Eng) bt Michael Fuchs & Oliver Roth (Ger) 21-19 19-21 22-20
2.30pm: Chris Langridge & Robin Middleton (Eng) v Flandy Limpele (Ina) & Simon Mollyhus (Den)

Men’s singles:
(6) Rajiv Ouseph (Eng) bt Scott Evans (Ire) 21-13 21-11

Women’s singles:
Elizabeth Cann (Eng) bt (3) Pi Hongyan (Fra) 21-13 21-12

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