Belgium's Steve Darcis sunk the hopes of home wild-card Ze Zhang in the first round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
The world number 224 put up a good performance against an opponent ranked 148 higher in the rankings, but succumbed 7-5 7-6 (7/3).
Israel's Dudi Sela beat Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-0 7-6 (8/6), while Jeremy Chardy was a 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 winner over Italy's Alessandro Giannessi.
At the Chengu Open there was more disappointment for the Chinese fans as both Di Wu and Yibing Wu bowed out.
Wu, the world number 220, went down 7-5 6-1 to American qualifier Taylor Fritz, while Yu lost 1-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 to Thiago Monteiro of Brazil.
American Jared Donaldson took almost two and a half hours to grind out a 6-7 (2/7) 7-5 7-5 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Fifth seed Yuichi Sugita took the first set 6-1 against Mate Pavic before the Croatian was forced to retire due to injury.
Source: PA
