Last season's Malta Cup winner Ken Doherty secured his safe passage through to the last 16 of the Welsh Open with a 5-3 victory over Belfast's Joe Swail.
The Dubliner pocketed breaks of 49, 79, 116, 47 and 84 to progress.
However, Swail did rally briefly with breaks of 87, 87 and 65 to make life difficult for his fellow countryman.
Doherty will now meets Scot Stephen Maguire, the 2004 UK champion, on Thursday afternoon.
Elsewhere, Nigel Bond stunned defending champion Stephen Lee.
The 41-year-old Derbyshire potter cruised to a 5-2 second round victory to send Lee crashing out at the Newport Centre.
Bond started the better and won a scrappy opener, before Trowbridge potter Lee levelled by winning the second frame.
A match-high break of 68 from Bond saw the provisional world number 25 re-establish his one-frame cushion, before Lee, a quarter-finalist at this season's SAGA Insurance Masters, squared matters for a second time.
However, from there in on it was one-way traffic as Bond won the next three frames for a deserved victory and a place in the last 16, where he now plays either Ali Carter or Stuart Bingham.
Left-hander Ian McCulloch is also through having battled back from 4-2 down to former world amateur champion Mark Allen.
Allen knocked in runs of 45, 64 and 57 as he looked to be heading for a second-round showdown with Masters champ Ronnie O'Sullivan.
