France’s Jérémy Cadot was among those to progress through to the last-64 of the men’s competition on day two of the International Fencing Federation Foil Grand Prix in Shanghai ©FIE/Facebook/Augusto Bizzi

France’s Jérémy Cadot was among those to progress through to the last-64 of the men’s competition on day two of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Foil Grand Prix in Shanghai.

The world number 17 was the highest-ranked athlete to compete today with the top-16 seeds all receiving a bye through the round of pools and preliminary stage at the Chinese city’s Jing'an Sports Center.

Cadot advanced from Pool 1 with five wins out of six, ranking second behind the United States’ Nick Itkin who beat him 5-1.

He will next play Great Britain’s James-Andrew Davis, who finished runner-up in Pool 17 before securing his place in the round-of-64 with a 15-13 victory over South Korea’s Im Cheolwoo.

Standing between Itkin and a place in the last-32 is South Korea’s Lee Kwanghyun.

Russia’s Pavel Borontov, left, will meet top seed Alessio Foconi of Italy in the last-64 ©FIE/Facebook/Augusto Bizzi
Russia’s Pavel Borontov, left, will meet top seed Alessio Foconi of Italy in the last-64 ©FIE/Facebook/Augusto Bizzi

Top seed Alessio Foconi, who formed part of the gold medal-winning Italian team at last year's World Championships, will firstly have to find his way past Russia’s Pavel Borontov.

Borontov advanced from Pool 7 with two wins from his six outings before defeating Japan’s Ryohei Noguchi 15-6 and Germany’s Felix Klein 15-13.

Both the men’s and women’s events will conclude tomorrow with the direct elimination rounds and final.

Yesterday saw the women's round of pools and preliminary stage take centre stage with Russia’s Kristina Samsonova setting up a last-64 clash against top-seeded compatriot Inna Deriglazova.

The FIE Foil Grand Prix is the penultimate event of the nine-city series for the 2017-2018 season.