Defending champion An Se-young cruised into the second round of the All England Open on Wednesday, avoiding the fate of last year's men's winner Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat.

South Korea's An, the world number one, overcame Taiwan's Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up a last-16 match against India's PV Sindhu.

Two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated China's Zhang Yiman 21-18, 22-20.

Former men's singles champion Lee Zii Jia saw off Japanese sixth seed Kodai Naraoka 21-12, 21-19.

On Tuesday's opening day, Denmark's men's world number one Viktor Axelsen laid down a marker in a dominant 21-9, 21-9 victory in just over half an hour against India's Kidambi Srikanth.

But China's Li, the third seed, lost 21-17, 21-13 to Toma Junior Popov of France.

"I told myself I had nothing to lose going into it," said Popov. "I don't think I played a super game, I just played with consistency and pressure, and he maybe made some mistakes that put my confidence up.

"So it was really nice to feel the arena and I could hear people behind me so it pushed me a little bit also."