The Chinese Taipei star proved untroubled by Australia’s Chen Hsuan-yu at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre.

Tai emerged as a comfortable 21-10, 21-16 winner to secure her place in the third round of the competition as she seeks to secure a maiden world title.

She skipped last year’s event to prioritise claiming gold at the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei in front of a home crowd, but Tai remains the player to beat in Nanjing.

United States Beiwen Zhang is set to provide her next opponent after she came from behind to beat England’s Chloe Birch 13-21, 21-18, 21-15.

Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, the 2013 world champion, battled to secure her place in the third round.

She eventually emerged as a 16-21, 22-20, 21-10 winner against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt.

Intanon is due to provide another challenging task in the next round, with India’s two-time World Championship medallist Saina Nehwal her upcoming opponent.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nehwal claimed a straight games 21-17, 21-8 victory in her match against Turkey's Aliye Demirbağ.

Japan’s Kento Momota was among the top seeds in the men’s draw to advance to the second round of competition.

He earned a 21-13, 21-12 win over Ukraine’s Artem Pochtarev to set up a second round meeting with Austria's Luka Wraber.

Fifth seed Srikanth Kidambi was also a straight games winner, as he beat Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 21-15, 21-16 in his opening match.

The Indian star is now scheduled to face Spain’s Pablo Abian.

Srikanth’s compatriot B.S Praneeth advanced due to a walkover, South Korea’s Son Wan-ho having been forced to withdraw due to a leg injury sustained in training.

The 2017 bronze medallist means another of the top seeds in the men’s singles draw is absent, with second seed Lee Chong Wei also unable to take place.

The Malaysian star pulled out of the World Championships last week and will also miss the Asian Games next month as he has treatment for what is reported to be a serious respiratory illness.