Bastian Steger was first to earn his place after coming through a challenging tie at the GETEC-Arena Magdeburg.

The German impressed when topping his qualification group yesterday, setting up a match against South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon.

Steger took a three-game lead before Lim hit back to move within one game of levelling the contest and forcing a decider.

Steger halted his opponent’s momentum to avert that possibility, claiming the sixth game to wrap up a 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-5 win.

He was joined by team-mate Patrick Franziska in the main draw after he achieved an impressive 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 14-12 straight game win over South Korea’s Jeoung Youngsik,

"It was very good match, I’m very happy to win," said Franziska.

"The fourth game was really tight, he had a two point lead all the time until at 10-9 I had match point.

"I was too eager and missed.

"I took a time out and won 14-12."

Ruwen Filus became the third German to advance by securing a 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 win over Austria’s Robert Gardos.

The biggest surprise of the day came when Brazil’s Pan American champion Hugo Calderano suffered defeat, the 21-year-old losing 14-16, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 to Poland’s Jakub Dyjas.

In the women’s preliminary round, 10 Chinese players advanced to the main draw.

Wen Jia, the world number 20, was surprisingly not one of the Chinese talents to progress.

She suffered a dramatic seven-game defeat to Suh Hyo-won, the South Korea winning 13-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8.

Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching, the world number 27, also fell to lower ranked opposition.

Austria’s Liu Jia emerged as the winner of their encounter, the world number 34 triumphing 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6.

The main draw of both men’s and women’s competitions will begin tomorrow with the qualifiers joining the top 16 seeds.