In a closely fought contest, Antonsen threw away an 18-15 advantage in the first set to lose it 21-19, before Lee took the second by the same scoreline.

Antonsen trailed 19-12 in the second, but ultimately Lee had to stave off a spirited attempt of a comeback as his opponent pushed the scores to 19-17 and 20-19.

For the Dane, it was a second consecutive early exit from a competition after his second-round defeat to India's Sameer Verma as the defending champion at last week's BWF Denmark Open.

Home favourite Thomas Rouxel will be Lee's second-round opponent after he staged a dramatic victory against Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris.

Rouxel took the first set 21-15 before Wangcharoen levelled with a 21-11 win in the second.

The match went to a tiebreak in the third, which the Frenchman won 27-25.

Apart from Antonsen, Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong was the only other seeded player in action today.

The eighth seed led The Netherlands' Mark Caljouw 16-3 before his opponent retired in the first set.

Ng will face Japan's Thomas Cup bronze medallist Kanta Tsuneyama in the next round as he overcame Malaysia's Liew Daren 21-18, 21-13.

Verma eased through with a 21-14, 21-12 triumph over South Korea's Lee Dong-keun, with Shesar Hiren Rhustavito his opponent in the second round.

The Indonesian built on his success at the Thomas Cup with a 21-17, 21-16 win against Canada's Brian Yang.

Rasmus Gemke of Denmark was the other player to progress today as he beat France's Toma Junior Popov 21-14, 21-10.

Top seed Kento Momota of Japan could await him in the second round, although he faces a tough tie against India's Srikanth Kidambi tomorrow.

The bottom half of the draw also gets underway tomorrow, including Denmark Open champion Viktor Axelsen as the Danish second seed plays South Korean Heo Kwang-hee.

In the women's singles, Thailand's fifth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong breezed past Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria with a 21-12, 21-4 victory.

She could have faced compatriot and fellow Uber Cup bronze medallist Phittayaporn Chaiwan in the second round, but Germany's Yvonne Li came back to record an 8-21, 21-18, 21-15 win.

As there was in the men's singles, there was a shock defeat for a Danish player in the women's singles as seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt lost 21-13, 21-12 to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.

Singapore's Yeo Jia Min awaits her in the second round as she saw off Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-16, 21-9.

A Danish player did progress today, although Line Kjærsfeldt's match against Spain's Beatriz Corrales could hardly have been closer.

Her opponent triumphed 22-20 on a tiebreak in the first set, only for Kjærsfeldt to reverse the scoreline in the second.

Corrales led for much of the deciding third, including holding a 17-13 lead, but Kjærsfeldt finished strongly and took it 21-19 to progress.

She could meet defending champion and fourth seed An Se-young of South Korea in the second round as she plays France's Léonice Huet tomorrow.

Russia's Evgeniya Kosetskaya was the other player to progress today, knocking out Uber Cup bronze medallist Supanida Katethong of Thailand 21-16, 21-15.

The Denmark Open winner and top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan could await her next as she starts her campaign tomorrow against South Korea's Kim Gaeun.