Competition in the German city began with four qualifying groups featuring three players, with the top two in each progressing to the round of 16.

Fegerl topped Group Three of the preliminary stage, overcoming Portugal's Joao Monteiro 4-2 and Russia's Alexander Shibaev 4-3.

"Shibaev defeated me easily during the European Championships but I was ready for him today," said Fegerl. 

"I put a lot of pressure on him and this made him make mistakes.

"I should have finished up the match after taking the first two games. 

"I thought I would be more relaxed in this game having won the first against Monteiro, but it was a different scenario entirely. 

"However, I am happy that I won to advance to the next stage."

It got worse for the Russian as he exited the tournament thanks to a 4-2 defeat to Monteiro, which sent the Portuguese through.

In Group One, two wins for Germany's Bastian Steger saw him through in front of a home crowd.

He saw off Brazil's Hugo Calderano and Australia's David Powell, with both matches ending 4-0.

The Brazilian then beat Powell 4-0 to book his own place in the main draw.

South Korea's Lee Sang-su won both Group Two games to go through, 4-1 against Sweden's Kristian Karlsson and 4-3 against American Yijun Feng.

Karlsson recovered with a 4-0 win over Feng to go through and knock the US player out.

In Group Four, there was disappointment for Nigeria's Aruna Quadri, as the Rio 2016 quarter-finalist lost both of his matches to exit the tournament.

He went down 4-3 to Singapore's Ning Gao and 4-2 to Par Gerrell of Sweden.

Gerrell beat Gao 4-0 to win the group.

"I think I was just unlucky in this competition because I played very well in all the two matches," said Quadri. 

"My inability to return my opponent's service in the first game affected me while the experience of my opponent in the second game was my undoing. 

"This is another lesson for me and I will keep on working hard."

Knock-out matches will begin tomorrow, with the last 16 and quarter-final matches taking place.