Marcus Ellis admitted he did not enjoy his and mixed doubles partner Lauren Smith’s win at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships. 

Ellis and Smith triumphed in a difficult all-English battle with Jenny and Greg Mairs, advancing 19-21 21-16 22-20. 

The pair outlasted their opponents in a war of attrition, taking the match at the second time of asking in the decider. 

“I would say if you asked Greg and Jenny as well, if they enjoyed that game win or loss, I would say they probably didn't,” Ellis said. 

“I don't think I loved playing that game. I've never found it easy playing against people from my own country and sometimes you can't really say why.  

“They know your game a little bit better and you know theirs, but I ended up playing probably not as well as I should have.  

“You need to really get out of your head and just kind of play your game and I think the people who can do that generally will go and win.  

“I think that's why often you see the underdog winning in a same-nation battle because they have got less pressure on themselves.” 

However, this time the underdogs did not triumph as the higher-ranked pairing advanced. 

Ellis and Smith will now face seed-topplers Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emmanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia in the second round. 

The two have had close matches before and Ellis hopes they can learn from today and their consistent belief that they would triumph. 

He added: “I don’t think we were the underdogs today, really quite the opposite, I was absolutely 100% convinced we were the pair to go through. 

“But I also knew in the back of my mind that it wasn’t a given and it’s never that simple and we just proved that. 

“It was hard work and a real fight, but really happy to make it through. 

“It’s lovely to play in front of an English crowd,  it's a really special feeling and it's something we only get to experience once every year, but at the best, at the All England.  

“So I think it's something we're really looking forward to on Thursday playing against a different nation.” 

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