The home player had been on the brink of defeat anyway against fellow German Patrick Franziska at the ÖVB-Arena.

He won the second game but struggled more as the match continued before pulling-out late on to hand his opponent a 4-1 victory.

It continues a disappointing start to the year for Ovtcharov, who has already lost his world number one ranking to compatriot Timo Boll.

Portugal's Marcos Freitas will be next-up for Franziska tomorrow after he won 4-3 against Masaki Yoshida of Japan.

Second seed Boll had no problem in reaching the second round after cruising past South Korean qualifier An Jae-hyun 4-0 in his opening match.

Ma Long, the world and Olympic singles champion from China who is in the same quarter of the draw as Boll due to an injury-induced fall in the new world rankings, also won 4-0 against Maharu Yoshimura of Japan.

Defender Ruwen Filus also excited the home crowd by surprising Japanese teenager Tomokazu Harimoto 4-2.

China's World Championship bronze medallist Xu Xin was giving a tougher examination before winning 4-2 against Jakub Dyjas of Poland.

Dyjas had stunned Xu's team-mate, the 2015 world silver medallist Fang Bo, 4-0 in the preliminary round yesterday.

China did also suffer a loss today in the second round of the women's singles draw, albeit an expected one.

Japan's second seed Kasumi Ishikawa won 4-0 against Chen Xingtong.

But Japan's Asian champion Miu Hirano was beaten 4-2 by South Korea's Suh Hyo-won.