Lim, the last remaining South Korean player in the men's singles draw, battled to an epic 12-14, 12-10, 13-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6 triumph over the Chinese Taipei competitor at the Namdong Gymnasium.

Germany's Patrick Franziska, who currently has no world ranking, also produced an upset as he beat fourth seed Koki Niwa of Japan 12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 2-11, 11-3 as the top players continued to crash out of the tournament.

Portugal’s Marcos Freitas, the fifth seed, had no such worries as he progressed to the next round with a 12-14, 6-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7 win against Chen Chien-an, also from Chinese Taipei.

Elsewhere in the men's singles, Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, seeded ninth, overcame sixth seed Simon Gauzy of France 11-8, 11-6, 11-6, 16-14 to prolong his stay at the competition.

The journey ended for Romania's Hunor Szocs, who knocked out top seed Jung Young-Sik of South Korea yesterday, as he lost 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5 to Japan's Maharu Yoshimura.

Surprises were also found in the women's singles event as the miserable day for the Chinese Taipei continued when Cheng I-Ching, the second seed, was beaten by Singapore’s Zeng Jian.

Jian, seeded 13th, needed all seven games to eventually edge past Cheng 8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 20-18, 11-5, 6-11, 11-4.

Japan's Hina Hayata joined Jian in the next round as she ousted Germany’s Shan Xiaona 11-6, 14-16, 13-11, 12-10, 11-5.

Newly-crowned Asian champion Miu Hirano of Japan is also through as she accounted for Yang Haeun, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, while Kasumi Ishikawa, the number two seed, beat team-mate Sakura Mori 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 13-11, 11-2.

The action at the Korea Open, part of the ITTF World Tour, continues tomorrow.