John Higgins secured his place in the second round of the English Open in Crawley before admitting he was struggling to enjoy his time at the table.
The four-time world champion, runner-up at The Crucible for the past two years, comfortably defeated Li Yuan 4-1 at the K2 Leisure Centre on Tuesday.
However, afterwards the 43-year-old Scot, finalist at the China Championship, revealed he had "not been practising" during his recent trip to Asia which was "just basically a holiday really" following an early exit at the Shanghai Masters.
"I'm struggling to get up for playing and practising," Higgins said, quoted on the BBC Sport website.
"I've lost in two big world finals in the last two years and it's knocked the stuffing out of me a little bit."
Higgins added: "I was surprised I got to the final of the China Championship because my play was terrible.
"I'm sure it'll come back at some point during the season, but right now it's not there."
While the headlines were dominated by Ronnie O'Sullivan's continued criticism of the Sussex venue, world number five Judd Trump produced a composed display with a top break of 104 as he beat Robin Hull 4-1.
"I feel as if my scoring is coming back. For me it's about enjoying my snooker, practising hard and trying to learn from some of the other top players while they are still around," Trump said on worldsnooker.com.
Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh put himself in contention for a possible £17,000 bonus after a maximum 147 break during his 4-1 win over Soheil Vahedi.
Jimmy Robertson, the European Masters champion, produced three half-century runs as he defeated Michael Holt 4-1, while veteran Jimmy White chalked up a 4-2 win over China's Lyu Haotian.
World number nine Kyren Wilson lost his first-round match 4-3 against Thailand's Sunny Akani, having been 3-1 ahead.
Elsewhere, Belgian Luca Brecel beat Niu Zhuang 4-0 and Stuart Bingham coasted past Welshman Duane Jones without reply.
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen defeated Anthony Hamilton 4-2 and Jack Lisowski came through by the same scoreline against Fergal O'Brien.
