Dubliner Fergal O'Brien asked all the right questions in his difficult first round match against world number one Mark Williams in the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York today.
Williams, the defending champion, has not lost a first-round match in a ranking event since February 1998 - a record stretching back for 48 tournaments.
O'Brien ended the first session level at 4-4 with Williams but had taken 3-1 and 4-2 leads at stages. With both players only needing five frames for victory it was O'Brien, once again, who forged ahead to take a 7-6 overnight lead.
Elsewhere Stephen Hendry, who defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-6 in last week's Brighton final, defeated John Parrott 9-5, recording breaks of 73 and 128 in the process.
Former champion John Higgins was struggling to remain in the hunt for the £84,500 first prize after losing the opening session of his second-round match with James Wattana, by 5-3.
Higgins, the winner in 1998 and 2000, was heading for a thumping defeat when the Thailand ace stormed into a shock 4-0 lead but the Scot made up some ground.
O'Sullivan bounced back from the disappointment of losing to Hendry in last weekend's final of the British Open by building a commanding 7-1 lead over Ian McCulloch in their second-round encounter.
The 2001 world champion weighed in with a 140 total clearance in the third frame and is now the front runner for the £7,500 highest TV break prize.
