Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto suffered a second round exit at the ITTF World Championships in Houston ©Getty Images

Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto suffered a shock second round defeat as the men’s singles competition continued at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston.

Harimoto, a Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist in the team event, had headed into the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) event as the second seed.

This granted him a bye into the second round, where he faced the challenge of Poland’s Jakub Dyjas.

Dyjas had won his opening round match in six games and was forced to be resilient again at the George R. Brown Convention Center, as he fell a game behind three times against Harimoto.

The Polish player responded on each occasion with the match determining in a seventh and decisive game, which Dyjas claimed to secure a surprise 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 victory.

Dyjas is now set to face Germany’s Ruwen Filus in the third round.

World number one Fan Zhendong of China enjoyed a safe passage into the third round of the competition.

Fan, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic singles silver medallist and team champion, eased to an 11-1, 11-1, 11-3, 12-10 win over Iran’s Amir Hossein.

His next opponent is due to be France’s Emmanuel Lebesson, winner of hard-fought match 11-4, 11-13, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 against England’s Sam Walker.

Third seed Hugo Calderano of Brazil came from a game down to beat Portugal’s Joao Monteiro 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6, while fourth seeded Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei recorded an 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 win over Sweden’s Jon Persson.

Calderano is now set to meet Belgium’s Cedric Nuytinck in the third round, while Lin will play South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon.

The women’s singles favourites enjoyed a successful second round, with the top four seeds earning comfortable victories.

Double Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Chen Meng secured an 11-7, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3 win over Lin Ye of Singapore.

The Chinese star is now scheduled to face Sarah de Nutte of Luxembourg.

Chen’s compatriot Sun Yingsha overcame Hong Kong’s Ng Wing Nam 11-4, 11-2, 11-9, 11-3 on the other half of the draw to set up a match against Germany’s Han Ying.

Japan’s Mima Ito triumphed 11-3, 11-9, 11-4, 13-11 against Kazakhstan’s Zauresh Akasheva.

The third seed is now due to play Saki Shibata in an all-Japanese third round tie.

Ito will seek to challenge China’s dominance in the latter stages, with the nation boasting three of the top four seeds.

Wang Manyu became the third Chinese player through to the third round when she secured an 11-6, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 win over South Korea’s Choi Hyo-joo.

Wang is due to play Linda Bergstrom of Sweden next.