Mark Allen recorded a 6-3 victory over Wu Yize in the opening round of the Sportsbet.io Players Championship in Telford this afternoon.
The Antrim man made breaks of 51, 73, 78 and 93 on the way to victory over the out of sorts Chinese player who struggled for form.
Wu made just one break over 50 in the match, in the sixth frame, when Allen was leading 4-1.
Allen quickly sealed the win and moves on to a quarter-final on Friday evening.
John Higgins defeated Neil Robertson in the battle of the former world champions in the other match of the first session.
Robertson couldn't get to grips with the match, going down 6-1 to his Scottish opponent.
A 133 from Higgins was the highlight of the one-sided affair.
Mark Selby saw off Jack Lisowski 6-3 in the evening session to set up a meeting with Allen in the next round.
The four-time world champion built up a 3-0 buffer before Lisowski responded just before the mid-session interval.
Selby sealed the fifth frame when the action resumed, with his opponent briefly threatening a comeback by winning two consecutive frames.
However, the Jester from Leicester wrapped up the match with a superb 136 clearance.
Higgins will face Chris Wakelin after the the Englishman's 6-2 win over Xiao Guodong.
Xiao took the opening frame, but that was as good as it got for the Chinese player, with Wakelin winning six of the next seven.
The world number 15 closed out the match in style with knocks of 104 and 101.
