England's Tracey Hallam celebrated her birthday in style as the women's number one seed set up a gold-medal showdown with Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia.

Hallam, who took the silver in Manchester four years ago, is desperate to go one better this time around and top the podium.

The perennial Games bridesmaid, 31 on Friday, was beaten in last weekend's final of the mixed team event by Wong as Malaysia pipped England to the top of the podium.

But after storming to a semi-final win over Elizabeth Cann from Jersey, winning 21-17 21-8, Hallam is convinced she has the ammunition to win the gold medal.

Hallam's unseeded opponent, Cann, is now just one win away from delivering the first Channel Islands medal of the Commonwealth Games when she play-offs for a bronze medal with Scotland's Susan Hughes.

"I'm going to sleep early, have an ice bath and a day off tomorrow to celebrate my birthday," said Hallam.

"The mixed event is over now, so I just have to go out and do my best. The pressure is on the Malaysian, it's up to her.

England's assault on the podium finishes gathered further momentum in the badminton as Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms guaranteed a silver medal in Melbourne.

The Athens Olympic silver medallists disposed of Singapore's Hendri Saputra and Yujia Li in their semi-final, battling back from a set down to win 19-21 21-14 21-17.

They now face the New Zealand pairing of Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten in Sunday's mixed doubles gold-medal showdown.

"It's a big final," said Emms. "They are a very good pair, and are top 10 in the world.

"We have played them a couple of times and it will be tense game because everybody wants that Commonwealth Games gold, but no final is ever easy."

The Kiwis made Sunday's final after also recovering from a game down to beat Malaysian pair Kien Keat Koo and Pei Tty Wong 15-21 14-21 15-21.

Elsewhere, England's Aamir Ghaffar crashed out of the semi-finals of the men's singles to Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia.