Susan Hughes, the No.2 seed, had her hopes of a first title of the season well and truly dashed by Kati Tolmoff in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Irish International in Dublin.

The blonde Estonian beat Hughes in the semi-finals of the Bank of Scotland International Championships in Glasgow last month, and the hoodoo continued with an emphatic 10-21 17-21 defeat.

In the men’s doubles, Livingston’s Thomas Betthell and his new English partner, Robert Adcock, did well to reach the quarter-finals.

The British duo made a brave effort to go through to the semi-finals before going out 21-19 10-21 21-14 to the Dutch No.4 seeds, Jorgit De Ruiter and Jurgen Wouters.