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Surrey Smashers Captain Chris Langridge admits his side have their eyes firmly on the National Badminton League (NBL) play-offs once again this season after they started their campaign with a 4-1 win over MK Badminton on the opening match-night of the new season.

Smashers were dealt and early blow on the opening day, with world number 7 Gabby Adcock being forced to pull out due to an injury.

But it was her replacement, 16 year old Abigail Holden, who provided the headlines on the night as she secured a huge debut win alongside Sophie Brown in the women’s doubles, who was also enjoying her debut appearance for Surrey.

Holden’s inexperience amounted to nothing on court as the pair cruised to a 3-0 win over Sophie Sankey and Caroline Westley.

The match-night kicked off with in style for Surrey, with Tom Wolfenden and Langridge taking a straight games win over Peter Mills and Gordon Thomson, before Georgina Bland twice came back to defeat Lydia Powell 3-2 in the women’s singles.

Carl Baxter secured the match-night win for Smashers in the 3rd event thanks for a flawless win against Sam Parsons, before Holden and Brown took that shock win in the penultimate event.

Rob Blair and Emily Westwood were unable to complete the white-wash for Surrey in the closing match of the night, losing 2-3 on the tie-break to Danish pair Anders Kristensen and Marie Roepke.

“MK Badminton have improved dramatically this year and we’ve had one or two injuries so to get the win, we are really pleased,” said Langridge, whose side topped last season’s league table before losing out in June’s play-offs.

“We’ve got a good squad at the moment and we’re looking forward to trying to make the play-offs and fingers crossed take things further.”

Surrey Smashers sit top of the table after their opening night win and remain unbeaten at Surrey Sports Park in four appearances.

Match-night two sees Surrey head to Team Derby on Monday 30th November 2015, before returning to Guildford on Monday 11th January 2016 to host Loughborough Sport.

Tickets are on sale now at surreysmashers.co.uk.

[Pictured: Abigail Holden, left, and Sophie Brown, right, pair for a successful women’s doubles victory. Credit Gary Baker]