Twelve players contested four groups of three as the major event opened at Disneyland in the French capital today.

The top two in each booked their place in the round-of-16, joining the top eight seeds who automatically qualified.

Calderano, seeded ninth, was the best ranked player obliged to negotiate the qualifying group but he lost both of his matches in Group A to exit prematurely.

He was beaten in seven by France's Emmanuel Lebesson, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, and in five by Belarus player Vladimir Samsonov, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10, 13-11.

It meant both the French and Belarus players went through but Samsonov beat the home hopeful to top the pile.

"Today was the first time that I'd played against Hugo," said Samsonov.

"I already knew that he's a very, very strong player considering how highly ranked he is. 

"It was my first match of the tournament, so I didn't really know what to expect. 

"At the same time, I knew that Hugo had lost earlier. 

"He knew that he'd have to beat me in order to reach the last-16, so he was probably under a bit of pressure. 

"I think that he had his chances to win at least two or three games, so it was a close contest."

France's other home player today, Simon Gauzy, also went through as he topped Group B.

He defeated American Kanak Jha and Nigeria's Quadri Aruna to advance with Jha, fresh from a bronze medal at this month's Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, getting the better of the African player to also progress.

Sangeun Jeong of South Korea defeated both Gustavo Tsuboi of Brazil and Greece's Panagiotis Gionis to win Group C.

Tsuboi succeeded where compatriot Calderano failed by beating the Greek to book his last-16 spot.

Group D was won by Denmark's Jonathan Groth who defeated Sweden's Mattias Falck and Australia's Heming Hu.

Falck also beat Hu to seal his spot.

The last-16 games and quarter-finals will be played tomorrow, before the last four and final the following day.