Judd Trump and reigning champion Kyren Wilson were among the winners at the Northern Ireland Open on Tuesday.
Trump battled past Jackson Page from Wales 4-2 at the Waterfront Hall to reach the third round.
The four-time NI Open champion will face the winner of Gary Wilson and Martin O’Donnell, who meet on Wednesday, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Ireland’s Aaron Hill held off a Barry Hawkins comeback to win 4-3 with a superb break of 92 in the deciding frame, while Scotland’s four-time world champion John Higgins won a late-night nail-biter by the same margin against China’s Pang Junxu.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kyren Wilson, who defeated Trump in last year’s final, booked his spot in the second round by edging through 4-3 against fellow Englishman Oliver Lines.
Despite making a break of 133 in the third frame, Wilson found himself 3-2 down against Lines but the 2024 world champion won the final two frames to progress.
In the other first-round matches on Tuesday in Belfast, Stephen Maguire defeated 2023 world champion Luca Brecel 4-1, while there were also victories for Ali Carter, Mark Davis, Si Jiahui and Ryan Day.
Tom Ford progressed with a 4-1 win over Chris Wakelin, while Yuan Sijun defeated fellow Chinese player Long Zehuang 4-2.
Home favourites Mark Allen and Jordan Brown are in second-round action on Wednesday.
Two-time winner Allen faces Ben Woollaston, while Brown, who stunned world champion Zhao Xintong in the opening round, faces Ashley Hugill. Both matches start at 19:00 BST.
