Michael Smith edged out Ryan Joyce in a deciding leg to progress into round two of the Lecot Belgian Darts Open with a 6-5 victory.
The 2023 world champion has fallen down the rankings since his triumph at Alexandra Palace a couple of years ago, but he will be back in action again in Wieze on Saturday when the top 16 of the Order of Merit enter the competition.
Smith, ranked 17th in the world, had to do it the hard way to book his place in round two and survived a match dart before he nailed double 10 to punish Joyce in the 11th leg.
He produced an average of 97.84 and hit three maximums on his way to victory, including a 125 checkout.
Elsewhere, Raymond van Barneveld saw off European Tour debutant Cam Crabtree to set up a second-round clash with James Wade.
There was nothing to separate the two players after six legs, but the Dutchman showed his quality and experience down the stretch to seal a 6-4 success.
Luke Littler will begin the defence of his Belgian title against Ryan Searle after 'Heavy Metal' earned a 6-2 win over Darryl Pilgrim.
Boris Krcmar reeled off five straight legs as he came from 3-1 down to stun UK Open semi-finalist Josh Rock and will face Michael van Gerwen on day two.
World Grand Prix winner and home favourite Mike De Decker survived two match darts to snatch a 6-5 triumph over Thomas Lovely and will face world number one Luke Humphries next.
Ross Smith sneaked past Sybren Gijbels to set up a meeting with Rob Cross, and there were also wins for Jermaine Wattimena and Martin Schindler.
Luke Woodhouse, Dirk van Duijvenbode, Daryl Gurney, Ritchie Edhouse, Matt Campbell and Wessel Nijman were among the winners in the afternoon session.
