Ireland's Ken Doherty, a runner-up for the past two seasons, is struggling to win his opening match in this year's Travis Perkins UK Championship.
Doherty, beaten 10-9 by Mark Williams in the 2002 final, resumes tonight trailing 1995 world finalist Nigel Bond 5-3.
The Dubliner led the match on two occasions but Bond battled gamely to win four of the last frames, helped by breaks of 62 and 67.
Doherty now needs six of the remaining nine frames to stay in the tournament.