The other fallen big name was Russian Alexei Smirnov, ousted¹ by Nigeria's Segun Toriola in a men's singles first rounder.

Chinese were just too strong for their rivals as they combined to lose two sets in five events.

Schlager, paired with Stefan Fegerl, lost the doubles game 4-2 to less known Indian duo of Sharath Kamal Achanta and Soumyadeep Roy.

One hour and a half later, the 11th-seeded Schlager lost the singles game 4-1 to Slovakia's Lubomir Pistej.

Pistej, ranked 124th in the world, won 11-5, 11-5, 4-11, 12-10, 11-7.

"It's incredible. I've played him three times and only once ever won one single set," said Pistej. "A teammate gave me a good tactic². I nearly always used a topspin service. I took risks and today my head was good."

For Pistej it was a dream come true. "Before the match I dreamt of winning," said the Slovakian. "Normally, he's simply too good for me."

Although the 18th-rated Smirnov outranked Toriola by 101, the Nigerian wasn't an underdog to the Russian.

Tuedsay's game was the third time Toriola had played Smirnov and it was the second time he had won.

"I played him in the Belgian League two weeks ago, I won three-two," said Toriola who plays for Immo in Antwerp.

Chinese Ma Lin, four-time World Cup winner and twice losing finalist in the world championships, lost one set in his men's singles victory over Wang Zeng Yi, as the penholding Pole unleashed³ a string of killer⁴ shots.

The other set Chinese lost was in Yao Yan/Xu Xin's 3-1 win over India's Achanta/Poulomi Ghatak.

Ma Lin's teammate and world No. 8 Ma Long, being groomed⁵ for the Beijing Olympics, whitewashed⁶ Russian Kirill Skachkov 4-0 to reach the second round.

In the women's singles, China's world No. 1 Zhang Yining routed Ng Sock Khim of Malaysia 4-0 and Hong Kong star Tie Yana, rated sixth, crushed Yao Xi Huang from the United States in straight sets.

China's top doubles players had an easy day too.

Chen Qi/Ma Lin, and Wang Hao/Wang Liqin romped⁷ into the men's doubles second round with straight-set triumphs, while Wang Nan/Zhang Yining, and Guo Yue/Li Xiaoxia kept a clean sheet in the women's doubles.

No. 1 seeded Guo Yue/Wang Liqin took their mixed doubles opener 4-0.

"We had prepared to have a difficult day since the first action day usually isn't easy," said the Chinese coach Liu Guoliang. "It turned out not so difficult."