World number one Judd Trump rallied from behind to beat Neil Robertson 6-3 and set up a second round showdown with John Higgins at the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
The meeting between 29-time ranking tournament winner Trump and 24-time ranking event champion Robertson was slated by many as the tie of the first round.
The blockbuster clash turned out to be a cagey encounter, with both players wary of the immense break building power of the other. Victory for Trump serves as revenge for a recent loss at the Champion of Champions, where Australia's three-time UK Champion Robertson prevailed 6-4.
Trump is aiming to end a 13-year run without a title in this tournament. He captured his first Triple Crown event win here in York back in 2011, when he defeated Mark Allen to lift the famous trophy. Since then he has fallen at the last hurdle in the 2014 and 2020 finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan and Robertson respectively.
The Englishman has enjoyed an incredible run to the top of the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings this year. His relentless levels of consistency saw him make at least the quarter-finals of every event he's entered until this month's International Championship. He's picked up titles at the Shanghai Masters and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters so far this season.
Defeat for Robertson leaves him perilously placed in 16th position on the provisional seedings. The top 16 at the end of this event will earn a place at the Johnstone's Paint Masters in January. His closest current rival is this year's Crucible runner-up Jak Jones. He trails by just £150 and will overtake Robertson if he beats Michael Holt in the last 16.
Leading 2-1 after a fragmented first three frames, Robertson hammered home a run of 107 to take the fourth and lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval.
Trump regrouped after the break and went on a blitz which saw him turn the tie on its head. Runs of 73, 126 and 67 helped Trump to string together a burst of five consecutive frames to come from behind and emerge victorious.
"It was a difficult game at the start, but I managed to turn it around and play some good stuff at the end. I played my best stuff in the last four frames and that was really pleasing," said 2019 World Champion Trump.
"These draws are extremely tough nowadays. A lot of the big names get through with the draw like it is and the qualifiers. Neil has a bit of a false ranking and he is going to get tough players in the first round. I've been a bit unfortunate in the past few years. In this event and the World Championship, I seem to get the 17th and 18th seed all the time. When you beat someone like that it gives you a lot of confidence.
"I've not quite hit the heights recently, but it hs taken some special performances to stop me. I just need to get that bit of luck or inspiration from somewhere. When that all comes together I'm very tough to beat. That can happen at any moment and as long as I'm in the tournament that can still happen.
"You are playing all-time greats nearly every round. It is always difficult but I have a good record against John recently. I hope I can go out there and play like I did towards the end of that game against Neil."
On the other table, four-time World Champion Higgins produced a vintage display to whitewash last season's Rookie of the Year He Guoqiang 6-0.
The illustrious Scot hasn't found the UK Championship to be a happy hunting ground in recent years, but he's hoping to rectify that this week. Despite having won the event three times, he hasn't been beyond the quarter-finals since picking up the title back in 2010. On that occasion he scored a sensational victory, coming from 9-5 down to beat Mark Williams 10-9 in the final.
Higgins is seeking to end a title drought which extends back to the 2021 Players Championship. In the intervening period he's been to five ranking finals, without picking up silverware. Most recently, Higgins reached this season's British Open final, where he lost out 10-5 to Mark Selby.
The Glaswegian made light work of He this afternoon, firing home runs of 110, 92, 72 and 64 on his way to wrapping up victory in just one hour and fifty minutes.
Higgins said: "I loved it out there. Coming down the stairs was absolutely fantastic. It is back to being like what the UK Championship was when I first turned professsional. I'm delighted.
"It was touch and go if I was going to be a seed here. A couple of months ago I was wondering if I was going to be a qualifier. The juices are always flowing. I always come to a tournament with some optimism. It might be blind optimism, but I'm doing the same again and I'll see where it can take me."