Two Dubliners are in the last 16 of the World Championship for the first time. Ken Doherty, the defending champion, made a nervous start at the Crucible Theatre, coming though 10-8 against Lee Walker, a 22year-old Welshman voted Young Player of the Year after reaching last year's quarter-finals.
Fergal O'Brien cut it even finer against James Wattana, recovering to win 10-9 from three down with four to play.
"The first hurdle is the hardest," said Doherty, who saw Walker recover from 5-8 to 8-8 and admitted that he felt more pressure than when he beat Stephen Hendry 18-12 in the 1997 final.
"There are no easy matches at Sheffield and this one proved the point," said the 28-year-old Dubliner after clinching the 18th frame on the blue. It's a totally different kind of pressure here that's hard to explain. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and being defending champion you have got other things to contend with.
"I tried to keep them at the back of my mind but it was very difficult," added Doherty, through to round two to meet Stephen Lee or Andy Hicks. "I feel myself really lucky to still be involved in the competition.
"Instead of going for the jugular I was trying to protect my lead," he added. "It was the same last year. I beat Mark Davis 10-8 and played much better in the next round."
Walker resisted stubbornly and battled back, but at 8-8 Doherty fluked his opening red in the next frame to set up a winning break of 65. The holder trailed by 34 points in the next but two scoring visits were enough to clinch frame and match.
O'Brien, the world number 23, trailed Wattana 7-3, 8-4 and 9-6 but maintained a precarious foothold in the match when Wattana lost the next two frames, going in-off the last black in the 16th and failing to clinch the 17th after twice attempting black for the match.
"Losing those two frames gave him some scars," said O'Brien. "I just blew it," admitted Thailand's sporting hero, who reached the semi-finals last year and always feels the expectations of his fellow countrymen keenly.
Wattana had chances to clinch victory at 9-9 but by now the pressure was too much for him. O'Brien, on the other hand, revelled in it, and took the decider 102-0.
The high-scoring Anthony Hamilton had centuries of 108, 102 and 100 in leading Dave Harold 9-6, but Harold's 137 reply and a pink-ball win reduced this to 9-8. In the 18th frame 9-9 loomed when Hamilton needed two snookers, but he got them both - the second as Harold, attempting the green, unluckily cannoned in the pink.
Harold is perhaps hardened to adversity and he watched with commendable composure as Hamilton cleared from green to black to prevail 10-8.
Tony Drago, displaying his customary mixture of virtuosity and unforced error, was a 10-8 winner over Alfie Burden, a talented footballer who yesterday became the first Crucible debutant to register two centuries, 105 and 115.
Simon Bedford can feel highly satisfied with his Sheffield debut despite trailing 5-4 overnight to green baize legend Steve Davis. Bedford refused to be overawed by Davis and even had the temerity to take a 3-2 lead over the 40year-old six-times world champion after Davis went 2-0 ahead.
