Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry is in danger of a first-round exit from the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield at the hands of rising star Mark Allen.
Allen leads 6-3 after the opening session of a high-quality contest and needs only four more frames to claim his second victory of the season over the former world number one.
The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland failed to win a point in the opening frame but then rattled in breaks of 70, 87, 91 and 49 to win the next four, Hendry managing only 42 points in reply.
The Scot has not won a ranking title since 2005 but showed his class with a break of 110 to reduce the deficit, only for Antrim's Allen - sporting a terrible haircut with bright red streaks - to reply with a century of his own in the next frame.
Back came Hendry in the next with a run of 93 but it was Allen who had the last word, a break of 62 in the final frame proving enough for a potentially crucial three-frame cushion.
Hendry can at least think back to 12 months ago, when he trailed unheralded Dave Gilbert 5-1 at the same stage of the competition before battling back to win 10-7. He and Allen will play to a finish tomorrow afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Dubliner Michael Judge lost the last frame of the session aginst Welshman Ryan Day to go into tomorrow's final session 5-4 down.
Day, up to seventh in the provisional world rankings after reaching the semi-finals in the recent China Open, led 4-2 after breaks of 83 and 95 but Judge battled back to level at 4-4 before Day took the ninth frame with a break of 70.
Australian Neil Robertson was delighted to secure his place in the second round with a 10-4 victory over Nigel Bond.
Robertson has failed to reach a single semi-final this season and lost three times in the opening round of tournaments, but was too good for 1995 finalist Bond at the Crucible.
Resuming today 7-2 behind, 42-year-old Bond at least made a fight of it by taking two of the first three frames, the first with a break of 67 and the second on the black after Robertson missed a simple red while on a break of 55.
However, Robertson made it 9-4 courtesy of a break of 57 and sealed victory with his highest break of the match, 84, to book a last-16 clash with either in-form Stephen Maguire or Anthony Hamilton.
