UK Championship: Mark Selby made to work hard to win opener

Selby started brightly with breaks of 72 and a wonderful 140 earning him a 2-1 lead, but White kept snapping at his heels until Selby finally closed the door with a run of 75 in frame 10.

"I didn't play fantastic, the main thing for me today was to get the win," he said. "Michael's a great player, probably one of the toughest first rounds I could've had."

During the match, the three-time world champion complained of discomfort in one of his eyes which resulted in a short pause in play, as he left the arena to remedy the issue.

"It's a bit better now, it's still not 100%. I could see, but when I got down to play the shot it was all blurry. Whether I got something in it or not I don't know.

"I'm 37, I'm not getting any younger - it could be my eyes going, but hopefully it's not!"

Selby ultimately got the job done as he looks to bounce back from the Northern Ireland Open, where he lost 4-0 to Lukas Kleckers having been well-fancied beforehand.

"I feel like I'm playing close to what I can do," he added. "I know my game's in good shape, just a matter of going out there, believing myself, and enjoying it.

"I can definitely see the improvement - I'm a lot more positive. I feel as though I'm happy and enjoying the game again."

John Higgins and Barry Hawkins both recorded resounding, 6-1 victories in the evening, the pair seeing off Fergal O'Brien and Riley Parsons respectively.

The highlight for Higgins was a break of 123 in frame five and while Hawkins came up just shy of a century, his high break a run of 99, he too looked in good scoring touch as he accounted for his young rival.

"Really pleased," was Higgins' assessment. "He just never turned up tonight - he made things really easy for me. I was expecting a really tough game."

On a day of very few surprising results, David Grace continued his excellent run of form with a 6-4 defeat of Ian Burns, winning the final three frames thanks to the kind of fighting spirit he demonstrated during last week's run to the last four.

Yan Bingtao edged past teenage talent Sean Maddocks 6-4, Mark William thrashed Ben Hancorn 6-0 despite a high break of 57, and Li Hang banged in two centuries to beat Fraser Patrick 6-3.

Youngster Pang Junxu rallied from 3-2 down to beat Tom Ford 6-4 in a rare upset, while Martin O'Donnell lost a final frame decider as Jamie Clarke edged their match 6-5.

Perhaps the biggest shock came from Germany’s world number 111 Simon Lichtenberg, who was a 6-3 winner against Scott Donaldson.