World champion Will Bayley made the perfect start to his bid to regain the men’s class 7 singles title he won in Rio 2016, sealing his last 16 match in straight sets at the Paris Paralympics.

Tunbridge Wells’ Bayley was impressive in beating former Paralympic champion Stephane Messi. He had not lost to the Frenchman since 2011, but the pair have had some tough matches and Bayley could not have made a better start, winning the first set 11-2.

He took the second 11-5 and the third 11-6 to secure a 3-0 win.

“I’m unbelievably happy,” said Bayley. “I was doing the things that I find difficult really easily today, like spinning down the line, my serve was good, my receive was really good.

“Sometimes I struggle with his serves, and I felt like I could do a lot of things today. I could touch the ball really well and I was varying everything. That’s when I’m playing my best and I was really enjoying it.

“From the very first point I was right on it - it was just one of those games. I’ve had some real battles against him - even at the World Championships recently it was 9/9/9 and every set was an absolute scrap.

“I was hitting the ball so well and I could tell after the first few balls, and I think he could tell as well and that changed it. I think I just felt really good, and he realised that it is difficult to stay with me if I’m playing like that.”

Bayley will face Bjoern Schnake in the quarter-final today (Tuesday) after the German world No.12 was a surprise 3-0 winner against Liao Keli from China.