Mark Selby survives Robert Milkins comeback to reach second round

Carrying a 7-2 lead into Tuesday, the world No 1 had to withstand a rally from Milkins, who won the first four frames of the morning session, the highlight of which was a 61 break to reach a score of 107.

However, Selby showed his class to hit back and take the final three frames, despite almost missing the very last black of the day to clinch his progress with a composed break of 70.

The 2014 champion will face Sam Baird in the last 16 after the qualifier ousted Michael White 10-7.

“You’ve got to give credit to Rob, he came out under pressure and played some great snooker,” said Selby. “When he got back to 7-6 I was getting a bit twitchy, he was scoring, he was fluent, and the interval probably came at the wrong time for him.

“I’ve missed a couple of tournaments so I felt a lot fresher, but at the same time I was not as match sharp. But I didn’t want to come into this tournament fatigued.

“The last few years I’ve been to the China Open and done well, but with the tournaments being so close together I’ve come here jet-lagged and I’ve not gone on a good run.”

22-74(62); 94(54)-18; 48-72(50); 66(51)-55; 60(50)-30; 108(72)-16; 97(68)-9; 132(132)-0; 77-44; 15-71(50); 0-107(61); 29-74(62); 60(60)-74; 83-12; 92(67)-0; 70(70)-64

Scores: 22-74 (62), 94-18 (54), 48-72 (50), 66-55 (51), 60-30 (50), 108-16 (72), 97-9 (68), 132-0 (132), 77-44, 15-71 (50), 0-107 (61), 29-73 (62), 60-74 (Selby 60), 83-12, 92-0 (67)

Selby also recovered from a slow start to dominate the opening session of his Snooker World Championship opener against Robert Milkins, and leads 7-2.

The world number lost two of the first three frames against his 21st-ranked opponent.

But after pinching close-fought fourth and fifth frames Selby never looked back, eventually winning six frames in a row with a half century in all but one of them, and recording a high break of 132 in the eighth.