The Aarhus native got off to a sluggish start in Wednesday's match and struggled to settle into the arena in Changzhou. Midway through the first set, Antonsen trailed 7-11 before he gradually gained momentum and turned the tide in a matter of minutes.
Antonsen won the set on his first set point.
The second set was otherwise painless for Antonsen, who early got the upper hand and cruised towards the second round of the tournament without allowing Tanake back into the set. Antonsen got nine match points, but took the first four too lightly before finally converting the fifth one.
In women's singles, Mia Blichfeldt had no chance against world number four, Akane Yamaguchi from Japan losing 12-21, 9-21. The defeat came just a week after Yamaguchi had also knocked Blichfeldt out of the Japan Open.
The Danish mixed doubles pairing with Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch fared better. In three close sets, the pair beat England's Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen.
Mads Vestergaard is thereby ready for the second round in both mixed doubles and men's doubles, after he also won on Tuesday with Daniel Lundgaard.
However, they will not be joined by Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard in the second round. The doubles lost 19-21, 15-21 to world number two Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of Malaysia.