IMOGEN BANKIER warmed up for this week’s Yonex All England Championships with a surge to the final of the Yonex German Open in Mulheim yesterday.

The Glasgow star put her recent injury problems behind her to reach the mixed doubles final with Robert Blair by beating fourth seeds Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen of China 21-17 21-19 in the semi-finals.

But in the final the Anglo-Scottish pair’s injury jinx struck again when Blair was forced to retire with a back muscle strain when trailing 15-5 in the first game against Indonesia’s Yohan Hadikusumo Wiramata and Ying Suet Tse.

Now Blair faces an anxious 48 hours to be fit for the 100th All England in Birmingham, where they face his men’s doubles partner Chris Adcock and Gabby White in the first round of the mixed doubles on Wednesday. Bankier is also in the main draw of the women’s doubles where she and Emma Mason take on Savitreee Amitapai and Vacharaporn Munkit of Thailand in the first round.

In the women’s singles Bank of Scotland International champion Susan Egelstaff faces Sayaka Sato in the first round. But Jillie Cooper is the first Scot into action in tomorrow’s qualifying rounds as she tackles the mixed doubles with England partner Chris Langridge and the women’s doubles with Samantha Ward.

Meanwhile, in the Croatian International in Zagreb, Glasgow’s third seed Kieran Merrilees reached the semi finals of the men’s singles. Merrilees had defeated Czech player Lukas Zevl, England’s Nathan D’Cruz and Japan’s Shuhei Hayasaki on the way to the semis, where he was beaten in three ends by Russian top seed Vladimir Malkov.

In the men’s doubles, Longniddry’s Paul van Rietvelde and England’s Ben Stawski reached the quarter finals before their run was ended by Croatian fourth seeds Zvonimir Holbling and Zvonimir Durkinjak and Linda Sloan reached the last 16 of the women’s singles before bowing out to top seed Nicole Grether.

Results from the German Open and the Croatian International, as well as the draw for the 100^th Yonex All England can be viewed at www.tournamentsoftware.com