Edmund became a top 50 player for the first time in his career when the latest ATP world rankings confirmed him as number 48 in the standings.

He celebrated that with a three-set win over Delbonis, who is ranked just two places above him, and will now go on to play US Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in round two tomorrow.

On a busy day of first round matches, Germany's Alexander Zverev was another rising star to display his impressive late season form, as he beat American John Isner 6-4, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Croatian Marin Cilic.

There was also victory for Steve Johnson of the United States who came through 6-4, 6-3 against Slovakia's Martin Klizan.

Johnson will now face Britain's world number two Andy Murray, who won last week's China Open in Beijing. 

Elsewhere, Frenchman Benoit Paire beat Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and American Taylor Fritz was too strong for France's Stephane Robert, beating him 7-6, 2-6, 6-3.

Serbia's Viktor Troicki will now play Spaniard Rafael Nadal after he overcame Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.

The world's top ranked players such as Murray, Nadal and Serbia's world number one Novak Djokovic, all received first round byes at the World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

Among the most notable absentees from the tournament is world number five Kei Nishikori, with the Japanese player withdrawing due to injury.

Nishikori was forced to retire from his second-round match at the Japan Open in Tokyo on Wednesday (October 5) after sustaining a buttock muscle problem while leading Portugal's Joao Sousa 4-3 in the first set.

Also not competing in Shanghai is Swiss legend Roger Federer, who is missing the second half of the season to fully recover from knee surgery which he had last February.