Shaun Murphy held off a fightback from Ali Carter to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Dafabet Masters.
Murphy, the 2015 winner, raced into a 4-0 lead in the best of 11 first-round encounter at Alexandra Palace.
The former world champion rattled in a break of 119 in frame three and looked on course for a smooth passage at the mid-session interval.
However, Carter came out of the blocks when they returned with breaks of 99 and 117 to cut the deficit to two.
Murphy took the seventh but a mistake allowed Carter to nick the eighth and the 38-year-old then moved to within one frame.
However, Murphy held his nerve in the 10th to secure a 6-4 victory and a last-eight meeting with Judd Trump.
Sky Bet offer Murphy at 10/1 to win the Masters.
"I didn't think I was bottling it, but I had my chances at to win it at 5-2 and 5-3 and didn't take them," Murphy told the BBC.
"If I had lost I would only have had myself to blame.
"I actually thought he played better than me today. It should have been closer after the first session and he won the second session."
In the evening session, John Higgins, a two-time Masters winner, came from 4-2 down to beat Anthony McGill 6-4 and will meet Ryan Day in the quarter-finals.
- Shaun Murphy 6-4 Ali Carter
- John Higgins 6-4 Anthony McGill
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