A refreshed Stephen Hendry beat Gerard Greene today to reach the last 16 of the Players Championship in Glasgow.
The seven-time world champion bounced back from his shock early exit in the Irish Masters to beat Greene 5-1.
After his defeat by Mark King in Dublin, Hendry claimed snooker had become "a chore" but after setting up an all-Scottish last 16 meeting with Alan McManus,
Hendry said: "For eight days after Ireland I didn't pick up my cue. I had a few rounds of golf and just relaxed. It's no guarantee though I'm going to play well here every match.
"But I have got my appetite back and it's pleasing to get this first match out of the way. I'm not saying I wasn't trying in Ireland because I was only one ball from a great escape.
"Had I won it might have given me a spark to go on. But snooker is my job and like with all jobs you get bored."
"Getting away from snooker was just what I needed," added Hendry who faces Glaswegian Alan McManus tomorrow night.
McManus reached the last 16 with an impressive 5-1 win over Welshman Dominic Dale. The two have enjoyed two close encounters this season, including an epic at the UK Championship last November when McManus won 9-7 from 7-1 down.
This time though the Scot breezed through the match making breaks of 78, 71 and 73.
"I didn't give Dominic a lot of chances and played solidly. I've had a really poor season so this was an important match for me," he said.
"There has been some criticism of the tables this season- sometimes pretty much justified-but that one today was the best one I've played on a long time.
"It's a great venue and for me living locally it's great being able to go home each night."