3 time World champion Mark Selby came through a tough first round examination against the talented Zhao Xintong.

Selby who trailed 5-1 stroked in 3 magnificent centuries on route to a confidence building 10-7 victory and will now face Gary Wilson in the last 16.

John Higgins rolled back the years with a wonderful 10-7 victory over the always tough to beat Mark Davis.

Davis who had won 3 out of the last 4 meetings between the pair found himself trailing 6-3 after the first session, but won 3 of the first 4 frames of the second session to only trail 7-6 at the mid session interval.

After the interval Higgins went into overdrive by powering in breaks of 132 and 135 to seal a magnificent victory.

An out of sorts Ronnie O’Sullivan trails amateur James Cahill 5-4 at the halfway point of their match. Cahill a Crucible debutant settled well and it will be interesting to see Ronnie’s attitude going into tomorrow’s second session.

Today’s results 

Mark Selby 10-7 Mark Davis

Shaun Murphy 10-0 Luo Honghao 

John Higgins 10-7 Mark Davis

David Gilbert 6-3 Joe Perry 

Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-5 James Cahill