The Rio 2016 bronze medallist overcame Japanese qualifier Takuma Ueda in straight sets at the Odense Sports Park.

Axelsen claimed his first World Championships title in August in Scottish city Glasgow and made light work of Ueda to win 21-8, 21-11.

South Korea's Son Wan Ho, the world number one, is the top seed in Denmark and he avoided a scare to progress.

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia took the opening set 23-21 but Son showed his quality to turn the match around by winning the second and third 21-17, 21-17.

China's Shi Yuqi suffered a disappointing first round exit.

The tournament's fourth seed and world number four was beaten in straight sets by England's Rajiv Ouseph 21-19, 21-13.

In the women's competition, Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying was a comfortable winner.

The double gold medallist at the recent Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade in August is the top seed this week and her superiority was evident as she brushed aside Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong 21-18, 21-13.

Beiwen Zhang of the United States also progressed.

The winner of last week's Dutch Open was forced to come from a set down but eventually beat Minatsu Mitani of Japan 12-21, 21-16, 21-17.

South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, seeded third this week, also need three sets to progress.

She fell behind to Denmark's Natalia Koch Rohde but silenced the home crowd by going on to win 17-21, 21-10, 21-8.