Anthony Hamilton defeated Fergal O'Brien 5-3 to advance to a meeting with Paul Hunter in the second round of the Wales Open in Newport today.
Northern Ireland's Joe Swail recovered from a poor start to squeeze past Mark King 5-4 in a contest that turned on one glaring error.
King led 3-0 and looked certain to steal the fourth frame until he inexcusably jawed a simple slowly rolled black along the top cushion when poised to clear the colours.
After that momentum shifted, King began to toil and Swail, twice a Welsh Open semi-finalist, rallied to set up a second round clash with Peter Ebdon.
Meanwhile, the relegation of Northern Ireland's Patrick Wallace was confirmed as he lost Andy Hicks.
Wallace, whose career highlight was a run to the quarter-finals of the 2001 World Championship, lost 5-3 to Hicks after building a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
Hicks compiled breaks of 70, 75, 46 and 55 in setting up a round-two meeting with world champion Shaun Murphy.
