Mark Williams taught home hope Liang Wen Bo a snooker lesson by racing to victory at the China Open in Beijing.
Williams, who won the title the last time it was staged in Shanghai three years ago, needed only an hour to complete a 5-0 second-round victory over the inexperienced 17-year-old.
Liang had beaten former British Open champion Nigel Bond in the previous round but could not compete with Williams, who began the contest with back-to-back centuries of 101 and 117.
The Welshman, world champion in 2000 and 2003, won only one match from the season's first six tournaments.
But he arrested his alarming decline by reaching the semi-finals of the Irish Masters in Dublin earlier this month, where he lost 9-5 to eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
At one point Williams had dropped to 14th in the provisional rankings and was facing the prospect of humiliating relegation from the world's elite top 16 players.
"I wasn't really worried because if you drop out of the top 16 it's your fault," he said, after securing his place in the last 16.
"But I was looking at the ranking list and knew I'd have to get some results. If you go out it's very difficult to get back in."
Williams limited Liang to just 43 points in the match as he breezed through to a last-16 meeting with Telford's Adrian Gunnell.
He followed up his two centuries with a run of 70 while Liang's best effort was just 16.
"I played quite well. Getting to the semi-finals of the Irish Masters gave me a lot of confidence. At the end of the day, I lost to Ronnie and he's the best player in the world at the moment."
Jimmy White booked his place in the last 16 by holding off Norwich professional Barry Pinches 5-3.
White, 42, won the fifth frame on a re-spotted black with the aid of a snooker and won the eighth on the yellow after Pinches had threatened a recovery.
A regular in tournaments and exhibitions in China and Hong Kong since the mid 1980s, White was again roared on by a huge army of fans.
"I've been coming to this part of the world for around 20 years and I've got lots of support here, which is great," White said.
"The first-round match is so important in terms of the ranking points so hopefully I can relax a bit now."
White faces the winner of the match between Paul Hunter and Ali Carter for a place in the quarter-finals.
Hong Kong's Marco Fu also reached the third round with an unconvincing 5-3 victory over Thailand's Kobkit Palajin.
