Hallam won Commonwealth gold in Melbourne earlier this year

The Commonwealth champion, seeded 10th, now faces top seed Zhang Ning of China.

But Susan Hughes' impressive run came to an end when she lost to Bulgarian seventh seed Petya Nedeltcheva 21-16 14-21 21-11 in the last 16 in Madrid.

Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms won their third-round match against China's Zheng Bo and Zhao Tingting 21-14 21-16.

The Commonwealth champions, seeded fourth, controlled the first game but fell 5-1 behind in the second before regaining their form.

The Olympic silver medallists will face Denmark's Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl, the eighth-seeded pair they beat to win last year's All England title in Birmingham, in the quarter-finals.

Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg also reached the quarter-finals, beating Kristoff Hopp and Petra Overzier in straight games to set up a clash with double Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling.

Robert Blair and Natalie Munt failed to convert a match point as they lost 24-22 in the deciding game of their match against Jonas Rasmussen and Britta Andersen of Denmark.

Clark and Blair were back in action later in the men's doubles and they advanced to the last eight by beating Tadashi Ohtsuka and Keita Masuda of Japan 19-21 21-13 21-18.

But Ian Palethorpe and Kris Roebuck's lost to Hwan Ji Man and Han Sang Hoon of Korea 21-12 21-19.