John Higgins began his defence of the ManBetX Welsh Open with a comprehensive 4-0 defeat of former world champion Graeme Dott in Cardiff.
Higgins' five Welsh Open titles makes him the most successful player in the history of this event but the Scot returns this year in the midst of a season that has been one of his worst in recent times.
Nevertheless, Higgins will have been pleased with his opening performance on Monday as he dominated Dott throughout, breaks of 86, 51 and 65 helping him breeze through to the second round, where he'll face Dominic Dale.
Day dumped out
Ryan Day's consistent campaign took a downward turn when he crashed to a first round-defeat at the hands of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
Day actually led 2-0 thanks to breaks of 52 and 69 but Thepchaiya fought back, holding his nerve to win the final two frames and progress 4-3.
Stephen Maguire was another high-profile casualty as he lost 4-3 to Zhou Yuelong, the latter reeling off breaks of 54, 53, 55, 69 and 62 in an impressive display.
Williams survives early scare
World champion Mark Williams came through a tricky opening round when beating Kishan H Hirani 4-3.
Williams compiled breaks of 76, 66 and 80 but needed all of his years of experience to come through a nervy deciding frame.
Shaun Murphy enjoyed a much easier afternoon as he beat Adam Stefanow 4-1 with the help of a break of 102 in frame one.
Straightforward for Trump
Judd Trump made light of the short break between matches to thrash Harvey Chandler 4-0.
Less than 24 hours on from his World Grand Prix victory, Trump registered breaks of 85 and 84 on his way to the second round.
Mark Allen came from 2-1 down to beat Mark Joyce 4-2 while Jack Lisowski survived an even greater scare, breaks of 87, 68 and 75 enough to overturn a 3-1 deficit and advance with a 4-3 victory over Niu Zhuang.
