English pair miss out in Denmark

England's Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg were narrowly defeated by the Denmark Open's second seeds in the event's mixed doubles final on Sunday.

Danish pair Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen beat the British duo 21-16 25-27 21-17.

Nottinghamshire's Clark and Kellogg, from Derbyshire, who won the Danish title together in 2006, led the final set 14-12 at one point in Odense.

They had earlier knocked out team-mates Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork.

Clark and Kellogg, current European and national champions, reached the final by defeating Chinese sixth seeds Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen 21-18 21-17 on Saturday, having beaten Robertson and Wallwork in the last eight a day earlier.

But Fischer and Pedersen asserted their dominance early in the first set of Sunday's final, and looked to be heading for a comfortable win when they had two match points at 20-18 in the second.

However, the seventh-seeded English pair saved seven match points in total before levelling the tie on their first set point.

Clark and Kellogg were behind again early in the third, slipping 8-2 adrift, but again battled back to lead by two points.

But they could not close out the contest as the Danes clinched the set and the title.

England's other mixed doubles hopes, Chris Adcock and Gabby White, went down 21-9 21-7 against Poland's Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Adcock and Robert Blair were beaten 21-16 21-19 by third-seeded Danes Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in the men's doubles quarter-finals.

The defeat came after they saved two match points before fighting back to defeat national champions Robertson and Clark in the second round on Thursday.

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