Fergal O'Brien battled into the second round of the Evergrande China Championship with a 5-3 victory over Mark King.
O'Brien made the last 32 in Guangzhou thanks to a gritty display against the Englishman, but his compatriot Ken Doherty tumbled out.
Doherty, along with other former world champions Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham, fell at the first hurdle after a 5-4 defeat to Shaun Murphy.
He was a frame away from progression but Murphy pulled it out of the fire when 4-3 down to snatch victory.
Robertson, the Hong Kong Open winner last month, lost 5-4 to Li Hang while Bingham, who claimed the world crown in 2015, also fell on the opening day, beaten 5-3 by teenager Yan Bingtao.
Defending champion John Higgins had no problems as his 5-0 defeat of Lyu Haotian included a break of 129 and reigning world champion Mark Selby came through 5-1 against Luo Honghao.
There were also surprise first-round wins for Ian Burns and Mark Joyce, who beat Liang Wenbo 5-3 and Anthony McGill 5-2 respectively.
Murphy downs the Darlin'!@Magician147 comes back from 4-3 down to take out Doherty in the decider, through to the L32 #ChinaChampionship pic.twitter.com/i9v7cbzjsN
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker1) August 16, 2017
