Irishman Michael Judge trails Wales' Ryan Day by one frame going into tomorrow's session at the 888.com World Snooker Championships at the Crucible.
Day, who is up to seventh in the provisional world rankings after reaching the semi-finals in the recent China Open, led 4-2 after breaks of 83 and 95 but Judge battled back to level at 4-4 before the Welshman took the ninth frame with a break of 70.
Australian Neil Robertson was delighted to secure his place in the second round with a 10-4 victory over Nigel Bond.
Robertson has failed to reach a single semi-final this season and lost three times in the opening round, but was too good for 1995 finalist Bond at the Crucible.
Resuming today 7-2 behind, 42-year-old Bond at least made a fight of it by taking two of the first three frames, the first with a break of 67 and the second on the black after Robertson missed a simple red while on a break of 55.
However, Robertson made it 9-4 courtesy of a break of 57 and sealed victory with his highest break of the match, 84, to book a last-16 clash with the in-form Stephen Maguire or Anthony Hamilton.
"I'm pleased to win a first round match, it's something I haven't done too often this season," joked Robertson. "I played pretty solid all the way through.
"I didn't play great snooker but I made a lot of 50 and 60 breaks and the most important thing was that I didn't play too many bad frames or shots in a row. It's good to win 10-4, I wanted to win quite comfortably to stamp my authority on the tournament."
Defending champion John Higgins last night booked his place in the second round with a 10-5 victory over Matthew Stevens.
Higgins led 7-2 after the morning session and needed just three more frames in the evening session to seal a last-16 clash with either Ryan Day or Michael Judge.
Stevens, however, threatened to maintain his proud record of having never lost a first round tie at the Crucible in 10 visits when he took the first three frames of the evening.
But Higgins dug deep to take the next two frames with breaks of 75 and 120 and the 32-year-old completed an impressive victory with a run of 103.
Ireland's Joe Swail resumes today with a 7-2 lead over Stephen Lee 7-2. Lee looked set to go 3-2 ahead yesterday when, after potting the blue, he snookered himself on the pink and after a safety battle, then conceded three fouls to gift Swail the frame.
Swail, twice a semi-finalist, took full advantage and Lee has it all to do to avoid a second successive first-round Crucible exit.