World number five Judd Trump found himself in all sorts of bother after an opening session that left him 6-3 behind to qualifier Liang Wenbo.
The Juddernaught takes off
Trump's task became even more difficult when Wenbo stole the opening frame of Thursday's afternoon session with a break of 59. Though the Juddernaught was one of the form players coming into the tournament and he soon rekindled the flame.
Trump fought his way through frame eleven, before a 54 break edged him the following frame. The China Open champion then began to find another gear as he won three more frames, including breaks of 106 and 69, whilst only losing ten points to Wenbo.
The run of form gave Trump the lead for the first time in the match, although it was short lived as Wenbo finally recovered another frame with a break. Yet Trump found his range once again, as contributions of 61 and 55 finished off an excellent comeback as the Englishman won 10-8. He now faces another Chinese seed in Ding Junhui over the weekend in the second round.
Fu and McGill on a level playing field
Marco Fu was one of the stars of the first round as he breezed past Peter Ebdon, whilst his second round opponent Anthony McGill stunned Shaun Murphy.
An exciting opening session of three left nothing much to choose between the two players as Fu clawed a 5-3 lead by the end of play. The man from Hong Kong drew first blood with a break of 87, before McGill responded with a 65 to leave the tie level after two frames. Both players produced half centuries in frame three but Fu came out on top, before the world number twelve edged another success to lead 3-1 after four frames.
McGill won frame five at the beginning of the a final four frame spell that was shared between the two players. Yet Fu holds the advantage after winning a crucial final frame of the session by just six points to lead by two frames rather than sitting all square.