Steve Davis cruised past home hope Zhu Yinghui at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.
The six-time world champion, now 55, won 5-1 in their pair's wild-card clash and was only denied a whitewash victory when his home opponent cut in a tricky brown and subsequent long blue to take the fifth frame.
Davis goes through to meet Ricky Walden in the first round proper.
Robert Milkins also progressed by edging out Zhou Yuelong in the final frame, while Jamie Jones saw off Lu Ning 5-2.
There was no such progression for Hong Kong's Marco Fu, though. He squandered a 4-3 lead against Lu Haotian, eventually losing 5-4.
Fu will have been disappointed to lose to Lu, who at 15 is the youngest player in the tournament, while England's Mark Davis will have been unhappy at going down to Mark Williams by the same scoreline in their first-round clash.
Welshman Matthew Stevens also made an early exit, losing in the first round to Joe Perry 5-2.
Back in the wildcard clashes Ryan Day was a 5-0 victor over Wang Yuchen and Mark King beat Zhao Xintong 5-3.
