Scotland’s Imogen Bankier and Emma Mason scored a massive win in the first round of the women’s doubles, but they couldn’t pull off another giant killing act and went out to the Dutch pair of Paulien Van Dooremalen and Lotte Jonathans at the Yonex World Championships in Paris.

The first game was close, with the Yonex Scottish Champions briefly leading at 12-11. But the unseeded Dooremalen and left hander Jonathans took control and the second was not such a close contest. 

In the end, the Dutch girls ran out as 21-17 21-13 winners.

The match lasted 36-minutes and it brought to an end the Scottish interest in the Championships, watched by a capacity 4,500 crowd at the extremely hot Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

Bankier and Mason claimed the first round win over the No.13 seeds from Thailand – Savitree Amitapai and Vacharaporn Munkit – had been one of the best of their career. But they couldn’t quite hit the same peak in their bid for a place in the last 16.

“I think we both went into the match with the same game plan, but they just executed it better,” summed up Bankier, the Glasgow 22-year-old.  “They managed to push us out of position. Playing against a left handed player can also catch you out.”

Mason, a finalist at the Bank of Scotland International last November, agreed that the pair ranked 66 spots higher at No.22 in the world had won the tactical battle. “I also don’t think I was as sharp as I was in the first round,” said the Edinburgh 24-year-old.

However, after an 18-month break as a partnership and with both having suffered serious injury problems, Bankier and Mason now look set to get back to the form that helped them top the European circuit rankings in 2007.

They got back on court together in February and are now looking forward to joining Scottish singles champion, Susan Egelstaff, who won a bronze in the singles four years ago in Melbourne, as medal challengers at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October.

 “We won’t be seeded because our world ranking isn’t high enough,” Bankier pointed out.  “But, if we get a decent draw, then we definitely have a chance of a medal.”