Ronnie O'Sullivan came through a free-scoring encounter with Michael White on day two of the World Open.
O'Sullivan registered his 49th and 50th century breaks of the season in successive frames to lead 3-1 against White, who rallied to draw level before O'Sullivan ran out a 5-3 winner.
Victorious in Saudi Arabia when last in action, O'Sullivan now begins the final road to the Crucible, which was the focus of discussions with the media afterwards.
"I'd love to try and win (the World Championship)," said O'Sullivan. "It's a hard tournament, a long time, 17 days, so a lot can happen.
"I'd love to win that another time and make it eight, but there are so many good players around, you have to get a little bit of luck, play some good snooker at the right time.
"I'll be going there trying my best."
Judd Trump, champion in 2019, didn't need to be quite so emphatic among the balls to beat Sanderson Lam 5-2 in a game which nevertheless saw every frame produce a half-century.
There were further signs of encouragement from Neil Robertson, who registered a 109 break on his way to a 5-3 victory over Tian Pengfei, but John Higgins lost 5-3 to Jackson Page.
World champion Luca Brecel beat Oliver Brown 5-2 and local favourite Ding Junhui signed off with a fluent 123 to beat Liu Hongyu 5-2.
