Coming from 14-18 down in the second game, the top seed and reigning world champion registered a 21-15, 23-21 in the last match on court at Fuzhou's Haixia Olympic Sport Center.

Double Olympic champion Lin failed to convert a game point at 21-20 to force a decider before Momota secured victory with three unanswered points.

It was the Japanese player's second straight victory over Lin, having ousted his rival in the Japan Open quarter-finals in September, and he now leads their head-to-head 2-1.

Awaiting him in the second round of the Super 750 World Tour competition is Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus, who defeated Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-10, 21-11. 

There was some cause for celebration for the home supporters today as reigning Olympic champion Chen Long maintained his recent resurgence with a 17-21, 21-12, 23-21 win over Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen after one hour and 47 minutes.  

It sets up a second-round clash with Hsu Jen-hao after the Taiwanese overcame Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-17, 21-13.

In the women’s singles event, leading contenders such as Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, India’s PV Sindhu and South Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun progressed to the second round.

They are seeking to capitalise on the absence of Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying, who has dominated the category this season.

Third seed Sindhu beat Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya 21-13, 21-19, while seventh seed Okuhara defeated Canada’s Rachel Honderich 21-19, 21-9.

Sung, meanwhile, overcame Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol 21-19, 21-10.

Action in Fuzhou is due to continue tomorrow.

The event will run until Sunday (November 11). 

The tournament is different to the higher-rated China Open, a Super 1000 event which was held this year in September.