Lauren Smith believes her Yonex All England semi-finals appearance alongside Marcus Ellis will be the first of many.

The Longtown-born player went down to a disappointing three game defeat in the mixed doubles last four, ending a memorable run at the competition where her and Ellis knocked out both the world No.4 and No.10 pairings.

But it wasn’t to be against fifth seeds Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti, but Smith - who stormed to the Thailand Masters title with Ellis in January - said she has a newly-acquired taste for semi-final Saturday at the prestigious tournament.

“I think we’ve definitely shown in Thailand and this week that we can beat the best in the world,” she said. “We’re beating top 10 pairs and we’re starting to do it with more consistency.

“There are still things to work on, but I do feel like we’re going in the right direction.

“Hopefully this won’t be the last time we’re in the semi-final here and hopefully we can go on better.

Smith and Ellis went behind as the Jordan and Oktavianti took the first game 21-15, before the home favourites brilliantly restored parity to win the second a thrilling 23-21.

But the Indonesian duo held their nerve to triumph 21-11 and show exactly why they are reigning French and Denmark Open champions.

And while Jordan was booked in the opening game for slow play, Smith says his antics had nothing to do with the result.

“He’s quite a relaxed player, as a lot of Indonesian players are, and he’s not in a rush to move on to the next point,” she added.

“The points are very short and sharp, and I think he knows that if he slows the pace down you can lose a little bit of focus in that moment.

“It was frustrating for us as we wanted to rectify the mistakes we made in the previous rally, and he was making us stand there and think about it.

“Maybe it was a tactic, but I think in some ways it’s just how he plays - if you watch other matches, he probably does the same thing.”

Witness Legends Begin at the 2020 Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships at Arena Birmingham between March 11-15. Secure your tickets at https://www.allenglandbadminton.com/ today.