Defending champion Kyren Wilson recovered from an early deficit to lead Lei Peifan 6-3 after the opening morning of the Halo World Championship in Sheffield.
Wilson captured his maiden world title 12 months ago, beating Jak Jones 18-14 in the final to lift snooker's ultimate prize. He's enjoyed a fantastic season following on from that, claiming tournament triumphs at the Xi'an Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open, German Masters and the Players Championship.
The Warrior is gunning for history over the next 17 days, by attempting to break the Crucible curse. No maiden World Champion has ever successfully defended the title.
Lei is one of ten Chinese players competing in the final stages this year, a record for the event. He rose to prominence by winning the Scottish Open this season and started brilliantly this morning in what is his Crucible debut.
He took the opening two frames to move into an early lead, before being frozen out by a break of 82 from Wilson in the third. Runs of 45 and 32 then gave the Englishman the fourth to make it 2-2 at the mid-session interval.
When play resumed, contributions of 66, 82 and 136 helped Wilson to make it six on the bounce to lead 6-2. Both players had chances in the last frame of the session, which came down to a safety battle on the final red. Eventually Lei won that exchange and cleared to the pink to remain in touch at 6-3 down. They return at 7pm to play the best of 19 encounter to a conclusion.
On the other table, Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong charged to a 7-2 lead over former Indian Open winner Matthew Selt.
China's Xiao is competing at the Crucible for the first time in seven years, while Selt came through the qualifying rounds for the third time in five years. Xiao is aiming for just a second match win at the Theatre of Dreams and Selt is seeking a first.
Xiao blitzed to an early 3-0 lead courtesy of breaks of 69, 120 and 73. Selt then showed his steel with 106 to take the fourth and trail by just two at 3-1.
After the interval it was Xiao who regained by taking a 28-minute fifth on the blue, before crafting a 109 break to make it 5-1. Selt replied with 131 to reduce his arrears but it was Xiao who took the final two of the session to end 7-2 ahead.
They return to play the match to a finish tomorrow morning from 10am.