World no.1 Mark Selby held off a spirited fightback from Robert Milkins to secure his passage through to the second round of the World Championship.
The Crucible had already witnessed four former world champions exit in the first round, with Graeme Dott, Stuart Bingham, Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy all leaving Sheffield early, and Selby was in danger of becoming another victim.
Despite the 32-year-old coming into the morning session 7-2 up, Milkins dominated the first four frames to leave the match wide open.
The Milkman took the first three with breaks of 50, 61 and 62 and won the fourth, despite a 60 from Selby, to head into the mid-session interval just one frame adrift of the 2014 winner.
Selby, though, regained his touch by winning the next three frames – the last after a re-rack – as breaks of 67 and 70 helped to seal a 10-6 victory.
He will face qualifier Sam Baird in the next round.
Selby said: “I went out there knowing that Robert was going to come back at me, and he played some great stuff to get himself back to 7-6 and into the match.
“The interval came at a great time for me and the wrong time for Robert. I managed to regroup, go on the practice table and hit a few balls and get a bit of rhythm and that stood me in good stead.”
On those potential challengers for the title who have already fallen in the first round, Selby added: “I suppose on paper you would say it is a shock, but when you look at the players they have been beaten by it isn’t really.”
Meanwhile, Ronnie O’Sullivan escaped with a slap on the wrist after snubbing a mandatory post-match press conference following his first-round match earlier this week.
World Snooker announced O’Sullivan was warned and told he will be fined for any further breaches of discipline.
Five-time world champion O’Sullivan beat David Gilbert 10-7 to secure his place in the last 16 at the Crucible.
As well as refusing to attend the press conference, O’Sullivan declined to talk to tournament broadcasters the BBC.
First round: Higgins-Day 10-3; Walden-R. Williams 10-8.