John Higgins beat Shaun Murphy 4-2 and Judd Trump defeated Stephen Hendry by the same scoreline in the Premier League.
Murphy and Hendry suffer defeats in Great Malvern
World champion John Higgins got his PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker campaign off to a winning start with a 4-2 success over Shaun Murphy.
Higgins, who failed to win a match in last year's competition, made three half-century breaks to quell the challenge of UK champion Murphy at the Malvern Theatre.
The opening frame went the way of Higgins on the blue but Murphy hit back with a run of 52 in the second to level.
Higgins, however, bagged the next two with breaks of 53 and 58 to open a 3-1 lead and guarantee himself at least a draw.
Murphy rallied with 72 - the highest break of the match - to reduce his deficit to one frame but his hopes were dashed as Higgins closed out the result with a 61 in the final frame.
"I'm delighted to get a win on the board so early on. Any win against Shaun is a good win," Higgins told
Sky Sports.
"In this competition when you're playing catch up it's harder so it's good to get off to a win and hopefully I can keep it going."
Generation game
In the second game of the evening, Judd Trump recovered from 2-0 down to claim a 4-2 triumph over Stephen Hendry.
Hendry started with a 104 break and quickly doubled his lead courtesy of two half-centuries - 57 and 67 - in the second frame.
The seven-time world champion opened the third frame with a run of 51, but Trump - at 20 the youngest player in the competition - stormed back into the contest with some sublime potting.
The Bristol cueman stole the third frame with a 38 break and levelled at 2-2 in the next, helped by a run of 36.
Trump then rolled in a 103 to go ahead for the first time at 3-2 and sealed the comeback with an 88 in the last.
