Sweden's Hampus Soderlund pulled off a major shock in the opening day ©ITTF/Cristian Larrain

Nine of the top 16 men's singles seeds were knocked out today in the opening round of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Hungarian Open in Budapest, with Qatar's second seeded Li Peng the biggest casualty.

The Chinese-born world number 31 was beaten 4-1 by Sweden's Hampus Soderlund, a 22-year-old former cadet and junior star ranked a lowly 196th at senior level.

“I didn’t do any special preparation, just practised and did everything as usual," said the winner.

“My tactic was to return his serves calmly and slow down the game, so I could confuse him a little.

"I played powerfully and felt confident."

Ukraine’s Kou Lei, the seventh seed and another player of Chinese origin, was beaten 4-2 by Russia's Vasily Lakeev.

Eighth seed Ho Kwan Kit of Hong Kong was beaten 4-1 by Germany's Benedikt Duda.

Ninth seed Eugene Wang, another Chinese-born player now competing for a different country - in this case, Canada -  also crashed out.

He was beaten in six games by South Korea’s Kim Minhyeok, who appears a stronger player than his world ranking of 110.

There were no such problems for top-seeded Taiwanese Chuang Chih-Yuan, however, who beat Iran’s Nima Alamian 4-0.

Third seeded Frenchman Simon Gauzy overcame Serbia opponent Marko Jevtovic for the loss of just one game.

Japanese teenager Natsumi Nakahata pulled off the shock of the women's first round ©ITTF/Richard Kalocsai
Japanese teenager Natsumi Nakahata pulled off the shock of the women's first round ©ITTF/Richard Kalocsai

On the women's side, it was Japan's day as Natsumi Nakahata and Honoka Hashimoto, two players with no international experience who are not even on the world rankings list, each excelled.

Hashimota's victory, coming in four straight games over Germany’s Petrissa Solja, the seventh seed and bronze medallist in last year's Women’s World Cup in Sendai, was impressive.

After already notching several scalps in qualifying, 19-year-old Nakahata pulled off a brilliant and nailbiting 4-3 win over Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, the number three seed and winner of seven ITTF World Tour singles titles.

Their first and second-seeded compatriots also joined them in the second round.

Ai Fukuhara beat South Korea’s Yoon Hyobin in five games while Kasumi Ishikawa eased through 4-0 over Brazil’s Gui Lin.

The season-opening event comes ahead of a busy period of competition providing opportunities to gain Olympic ranking points, with next week's German Open Super Series event in Berlin followed by the World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur.