English Open: John Higgins and Judd Trump survive first-round scares
John Higgins and Judd Trump survived scares in the first round of the English Open, both men coming within one frame of defeat in Barnsley.
Higgins edged Elliott Slessor 4-3, while last year's runner-up Trump defeated Robbie Williams by the same score.
Four-time world champion Higgins was 3-2 down against Slessor and close to an early exit at the hands of the world number 77 when he put together a break of 75, his best of the match to level the scores.
The Scot then closed things out in the decider to progress.
Trump put together breaks of 113 and 143 in the first three frames of his match against Williams but failed to put a single point on the board in the next two.
Like Higgins he recovered his composure to close out a tight victory and continue his involvement.
China's Liang Wenbo, who defeated Trump for the inaugural title in 2016, eased to a 4-1 victory over Duane Jones as he reeled off a pair of centuries.
Pre-qualifier/First round (best of seven)
- Allan Taylor 4-3 David Lilley (Match 1)
- Ian Burns 3-4 Zhang Anda (Match 2)
- Fang Xiongman 4-0 Joe O'Connor (Match 3)
- Tom Ford 4-1 Xu Si (Match 5)
- Basem Eltahhan 0-4 Jamie Jones (Match 6)
- Anthony McGill 4-3 Michael Holt (Match 8)
- Barry Hawkins 4-2 Peter Lines (Match 9)
- Noppon Saengkham 0-4 Yan Bingtao (Match 7)
- Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Matthew Bolton (Match 10)
- Chris Totten 3-4 Joe Swail (Match 11)
- Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Adam Duffy (Match 12)
- Gary Wilson 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan (Match 13)
- Judd Trump 4-3 Robbie Williams (Match 20)
- Stuart Bingham 4-0 Lee Walker (Match 56)
- Liang Wenbo 4-1 Duane Jones (Match 4)
- Li Hang 4-2 Chris Wakelin (Match 14)
- Ian Preece 4-0 Mei Xi Wen (Match 16)
- Sam Craigie 4-0 Aditya Mehta (Match 17)
- Chen Zifan 4-3 Sanderson Lam (Match 18)
- Mark Allen 4-0 Jimmy White (Match 47)
- Yu De Lu 3-4 Mark Joyce (Match 21)
- Jamie Curtis-Barrett 2-4 Li Yuan (Match 26)
- Rory McLeod 0-4 Jack Lisowski (Match 27)
- Matthew Stevens 4-0 Eden Sharav (Match 22)
- Xiao Guodong 4-2 Wang Yuchen (Match 64)