Ding Junhui saw off Lian Wenbo 10-8, while Jamie Cope overcame Joe Perry 10-6 in the first round at the Crucible.
World number 11 comes from behind to beat fellow countryman
Ding Junhui booked a second-round meeting with Stephen Hendry by seeing off Liang Wenbo 10-8 at the Crucible.
Ding won three frames in a row from 8-7 behind to claim a hard-fought success in the all-Chinese first-round affair at the Betfred.com World Championship.
Having led 5-4 overnight, Ding initially looked comfortable and won the opening two frames to go 7-4 ahead.
But Liang, a quarter-finalist at this event last year, turned things around with four frames on the bounce to move 8-7 in front.
Ding, the world number 11, had failed to pot a ball for more than an hour but somehow managed to haul himself back from the brink with runs of 111, 91 and 63 to clinch victory.
"Liang is a very attacking player but today he was very careful, focusing on every ball," Ding told
worldsnooker.com.
"When he was 8-7 ahead he missed a crucial red which allowed me to make a clearance and after that I relaxed.
"I didn't think about how many people were watching in China, I just concentrated on my game."
Perry fails to Cope
Jamie Cope also reached the second round with a stunning comeback to dispatch Joe Perry.
Perry, the world number 12 and a semi-finalist in Sheffield 12 months ago, led 5-4 overnight but had no answer to a fluent performance from Cope on Tuesday afternoon.
The Stoke cueman won six of the seven frames contested to turn his one-frame deficit into a 10-6 triumph.
"After five frames I felt a little bit unsettled but I just tried to forget about it and enjoy it," said Cope, who will play John Higgins or Michael Holt in the last 16.
"I was just a little bit nervous but I was expecting that and it was nice to overcome it. I feel as if I'm in the tournament now."
Murphy stifled
On the other table on Tuesday afternoon, Shaun Murphy's clash with Andrew Higginson pitted a former world champion against a Crucible debutant, but both were playing like amateurs for long periods of a poor opening session.
Murphy's 123 in the second frame was a rare highlight as the Rotherham potter - who took the title in 2005 - was forced to draw on all his experience to eke out a 5-4 lead.
The match concludes on Wednesday morning.
