Britain's top two mixed doubles pairs remained locked in a tight battle for an Olympic place after victories at the Yonex All England Open Championships.
And veteran Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork could even clash with the Anglo-Scottish duo of Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier in the semi-finals in Birmingham after both reached the last eight.
Robertson and Wallwork produced a superb performance in the evening as they saw off fifth seeds Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Hsing 21-13 21-13 in just 33 minutes.
That was an emphatic reply to the earlier display of Adcock and Bankier, who beat Koreans Yoo Yeon-seong and Jang Ye-na less convincingly, 15-21 21-19 21-19.
It is likely the pair ranked the highest in the world rankings to be published on May 3 will be selected to represent Great Britain at London 2012.
The race could hardly be closer with World Championship runners-up Adcock and Bankier 17th in the latest rankings published today with 2004 Athens silver medallist Robertson and Wallwork 19th.
Adcock was relieved after tonight's win, feeling he and Bankier had fallen below the standards set in their stunning first-round triumph over top seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei.
The 22-year-old said: "We are thrilled with the victory.
"Neither of us played to the same level as our previous match but we won ugly.
"I would give us two out of 10 for the performance. We did not reach the heights as we did against the number one seeds.
"We were lacking in all departments in the first game but the crowd lifted us to see us through this difficult match."
Adcock also retains hope of qualifying for the Olympics in the men's doubles but his challenge in that discipline in Birmingham alongside Andy Ellis came to an abrupt halt.
Adcock and Ellis were unable to replicate an impressive first-round performance as they were dumped out 21-13 21-15 in 42 minutes by Korea's fifth seeds Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae.
Britain's top men's singles player Rajiv Ouseph also saw his campaign come to an end as he failed to follow up his superb defeat of fourth seed Peter Gade.
The world number 26 from Hounslow felt his tough clash with the veteran Dane, which only began in the early hours of this morning, took its toll as he was beaten 21-15 21-10 by Malaysia's Daren Liew.
Ouseph said: "I'm very disappointed with my performance.
"Because I finished late last night it affected my game tonight. I had no speed in my legs and I made a lot of unforced errors.
My opponent took control of the game by pushing me deep into the corners and I could not react. I tried to quicken up my game but could do nothing about it."
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