Judd Trump survived a final-frame decider to avoid following Ronnie O'Sullivan in making a shock first-round exit at the World Championship.
Trump recovered from 6-3 down and held his nerve to produce a break of 53 in the last frame to edge past Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-9 at the Crucible.
And the Masters champion will now face China's Ding Junhui in the last 16 in the bottom half of the draw which has taken on a different perspective following five-time champion O'Sullivan's defeat to amateur James Cahill on Tuesday.
The @Betfred World Championship is snooker's marathon... But @judd147t had to out-sprint Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to make the last 16! Ding next 🍿 #ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/V7VgdR3PZ4 — World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) April 24, 2019
Breaks of 82, 62 and 68 helped Trump win five of the first six frames of the day to edge into the lead for the first time since the opening frame of the match, but Un-Nooh responded with a run of 68 to level at 8-8.
Trump edged back in front by taking a scrappy 17th frame but qualifier Un-Nooh levelled once more with a break of 78, his highest of the match, to force a decider.
A superb long red gave Un-Nooh the first chance in the decider but he could only make 26 before running out of position and playing safe.
However, Trump took on a risky cross-double to get in and went on to make 53 before a poor positional shot brought the break to an end.
After a brief safety exchange, Un-Nooh then suffered an unfortunate miscue in attempting to escape a snooker and a relieved Trump was able to celebrate a hard-fought win.
Trump said: "It was always going to be a tough draw but Thepchaiya was one of the names everyone wanted to avoid.
"He's one of the best players, he's still probably improving and it's a scary style of play to play against. He goes for everything and puts you under a lot of pressure.
"I'm very relieved, to win from 6-3 down is a great win for me."
Un-Nooh added: "I'm very disappointed. I felt very under pressure in the first four frames today. After the interval I felt more relaxed and then he played really really well.
"I had a great opportunity in the last frame, opened the pack but had no colour to play. I told myself don't give him easy chances but I gave him many chances and I missed a lot of balls."
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