Marcus Ellis feels experience propelled him to Olympic victory at the first time of asking alongside Lauren Smith.

The Huddersfield star combined with Smith to beat France's Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in a confident start to their mixed doubles campaign in Tokyo.

The British pairing set the pace in the opening game, prevailing 21-18, and battled back from six points down to take the decisive second 21-17.

"The key was that we started the match very well," said Ellis.

"The French looked quite nervous, you could see this was a big occasion for them, as it is for everybody.

"We were hoping to draw on our previous Olympic experience to know how to deal with the situation. We put in a good performance.

"Under the circumstances, we have to see that as a positive start."

Ellis's Olympic credentials are well known with his men's doubles bronze alongside Chris Langridge setting the standard for British pairings at this Games.

And a medal is not beyond him and Smith on the strength of a dominant victory over Gicquel and Delrue, ranked only two places below them at tenth in the world rankings.

They carried a psychological edge into the contest having beaten the French pairing in all three of their previous meetings, including on route to European Games gold in 2019.

Ellis and Smith never won more than three successive points but outwitted their opponents, targeting Delrue and avoiding giving six-footer Gicquel the chance to smash.

They fell 8-2 behind at the start of the second but drew the sting of French momentum to wrap up victory in 50 minutes.

"As the game went on, the shuttles slowed down a little bit and we had slightly longer rallies, that suited us," said Ellis.

Smith added: "I remember something that Marcus said about the Olympics: 'that the hardest part is to qualify.' When you're here, it's all a bonus.

"There's no point wasting this opportunity and this experience, something we've worked towards for two years now, by being nervous. We just went on there and just played, tried to put our best performance in and it paid off in the end."

Ellis and Smith will hope to carry momentum into Sunday's clash with Canada's Joshua Hurlburt-Yu and Josephine Wu, the world No.27 pairing, who they have never faced before.

Looming in the group are the third seeds, Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who should provide a stern test of their credentials.

Ellis, who is able to train full-time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams thanks to National Lottery funding – which has never been more important in getting her to the start line after a turbulent year, said: "For us going forward, getting into that pattern of game we want to play is going to be key and I think the conditions in this hall are really good for us.

"If we focus on our own game, we'll put in a good performance. I don't want to put a number or a stage of the tournament, but a good performance."

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