Top seed Beiwen Zhang of the United States safely progressed to the second round ©Getty Images

Top seed Beiwen Zhang safely progressed to the second round as the women's main draw action began at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Bitburger Open.

The American cruised to a comfortable 21-18, 21-11 win over Kate Foo Kune, of Mauritius, at the Saarlandhalle in the German city of Saarbrücken.

Zhang will now face unseeded Dane Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt tomorrow.

Kjærsfeldt set up a meeting with the top seed after coming from behind to beat Ukraine's Maria Ulitina 11-21, 21-6, 21-13.

Third seed Busanan Ongbumrungpan, of Thailand, endured a miserable opening day after she was forced to retire hurt during her first-round clash with Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po.

Third seed Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand endured a miserable opening day as she was forced to retire hurt during her first-round clash ©Getty Images
Third seed Busanan Ongbumrungpan of Thailand endured a miserable opening day as she was forced to retire hurt during her first-round clash ©Getty Images

Ongbumrungpan was trailing 21-19, 12-10 when injury ended her pursuit of the title at the BWF Grand Prix gold tournament.

Fifth seed Kirsty Gilmour, of Scotland, and Spanish eighth seed Beatriz Corrales were among the highest-profile casualties on the first day of the women's main draw.

Gilmour succumbed to a 21-15, 21-15 defeat at the hands of Lee Chia Hsin of Chinese Tapei.

Corrales also suffered a premature exit from the event as she lost 14-21, 21-17, 21-15 to Germany's Fabienne Deprez.

There were no such worries for Thailand's Nichaon Jindapon, the second seed, as she swept aside Mette Poulsen of Denmark 21-13, 21-17.

In the men's event, China's Huang Yuxiang and Qiao Bin, seeded fifth and sixth respectively, both progressed with comfortable wins.

Huang, the junior world champion in the mixed team event in 2010, ousted Germany's Zewei Xie 21-17, 21-14.

Qiao beat Italy's Giovanni Greco 21-12, 21-12.

The tournament continues tomorrow.