UK Championship: Mark Selby scrapes through in York
World number one Mark Selby had to dig deep to come through 6-4 against Basem Eltahhan in their first-round clash at the UK Championships in York.
The three-time Crucible champion and tournament holder had produced a couple of half-century breaks to move 4-2 ahead, only for the Egyptian to fight back again and take the match late into Wednesday night's evening session at the Barbican Centre.
Selby, though, finally came through to see off the spirited challenge of the world number 128.
In the other matches to finish late Oliver Lines defeated Mei Xi Wen 6-3, Scott Donaldson won 6-2 against John J Astley and our 250/1 tip Michael White beat Ross Muir 6-5.
During the afternoon session, world number six Shaun Murphy defeated Hamza Akbar of Pakistan 6-1, but Anthony Hamilton went out by the same scoreline to Lyu Haotian of China while Joe Swail lost 6-3 to Martin Gould.
Judd Trump, though, wasted little time in seeing off Matthew Bolton as he breezed past the Australian 6-0 and Peter Ebdon, the 2002 world champion, beat Allan Taylor 6-3.
Elsewhere in the evening session, Northern Ireland's Mark Allen saw off German Lukas Kleckers 6-2 while Joe Perry beat Billy Joe Castle 6-1 and Jack Lisowoski beat Wang Yuchen 6-4.
In Wednesday's morning session, Luca Brecel, the Belgian world number 13, was pushed by Soheil Vahedi before eventually defeating the Iranian 6-4.
Compatriot Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, though, did progress after his 6-4 win over James Wattana of Thailand, while Scotland's Anthony McGill saw off Ashley Hugill 6-2.
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