Ben Lane and Sean Vendy will face Chinese Taipei pairing Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan on Day 3 of the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships 2025, writes Phil Campbell.
Lane and Vendy saw off Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-18 21-19 with a clinical and gutsy performance in the men's doubles first round.
Meanwhile, Lee and Yang were taken to a deciding game by Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura but eventually won 21-13 16-21 21-7.
This will be the first meeting between the two pairs at the YONEX All England with the Chinese Taipei players leading the head-to-head record between the teams.
Their first meeting came in the 2019 Indonesia Masters with Lee and Yang winning in straight games 22-20 21-13.
Two months later they met again in the final of the Polish Open with Lee and Yang taking the title in straight games, triumphing 21-19 21-16 on that occasion.
It was three years until the pairs crossed paths again at the 2022 Hylo Open when Lane and Vendy again failed to take a game off the Chinese Taipei pairing, losing 21-9 21-17 in the semi-finals.
However, the Englishmen finally got the better of their Round of 16 opponents in October 2024 when they battled past them in a close deciding game 21-16 14-21 23-1 in the Round of 16 at the Denmark Open.
Lane and Vendy will be buoyed by their recent victory over the pair and also go into the clash tomorrow with a better win record this year having won seven out of their 10 games together, compared to Lee and Yangs three wins from eight matches.
The men cannot be separated in the BWF World Men’s Doubles Rankings with Lane and Vendy rated 11th and Lee and Yang ranked 10th.
Yang will be going into tomorrow’s contest in good form however as, alongside Hu Ling Fang, he beat Lane and Vendy's compatriots Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen 17-21 21-12 21-19 in the mixed doubles.
