Defending champion Chou Tien Chen eased through in front of a home crowd ©Getty Images

Top seed Chou Tien Chen enjoyed comfortable progression into the second round of the Chinese Taipei Open as competition began at the Taipei Arena today.

The home favourite is hoping to defend the title he claimed last year, when he overcame China’s Qiao Bin in straight games.

It saw him become the first local men’s player to win the event for 17-years, having also been the runner-up twice.

Chou’s title defence got off to an impressive start as he secured a straightforward 21-14, 21-8 victory against Jimmy Yu Lun Tay of Malaysia.

He will now face Ryan Ng Zin Rei, with the Singapore player having battled to a 21-8, 16-21, 21-12 win over local qualifier Cheng Po Wei.

Fourth seed Sourabh Verma suffered a surprise loss in his first round match, with the Indian player falling in a close contest 21-19, 22-20 to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.

Lee will face Chinese Taipei opposition in the second round, with home player En Chia Chang having enjoyed a first round walkover.

Defending women's champion Tai Tzu-ying has withdrawn from the event ©Getty Images
Defending women's champion Tai Tzu-ying has withdrawn from the event ©Getty Images

The home crowd had been hoping to see Tai Tzu-ying make her appearance at the tournament, with the world number one having been top seeded for the event.

Tai, won the competition last year as well as in 2012, but has elected to withdraw from this year’s event.

The favourite for the Grand Prix Gold level event will now be Hsu Ya Ching, with the Chinese Taipei athlete having been seeded second prior to the competition.

She will play Indonesia’s Debora Rumate Vehrenica tomorrow.