But aside from his 119 break in the penultimate frame, the Scot played second fiddle to the composed 22-year-old from Leicester on the opening day of the tournament.

Selby, beaten by Higgins at this stage last year, showed no signs of any early nerves as he took three of the first four frames – although he was far from prolific in the balls.

The pair shared the next two, before Selby established a three-frame advantage with a 69 break in the seventh.

A below-par Higgins threatened a comeback in the next with his fine century - the first of the tournament – but Selby will scent an upset having nicked the final frame of the session.

Defending champion and top seed Shaun Murphy shrugged off a chest infection, and the challenge of James Wattana, to stutter into the second round in the only match played to a finish on day one.

Murphy, hampered by illness this week, failed to reproduce the kind of form that made him a surprise winner last year.

But aided by an error-strewn performance from an off-colour Wattana, the Rotherham-based 23-year-old did not need to be at his best as he prevailed 10-4.

The fact that the two players could engineer only five half-centuries between them said a lot about the sub-standard nature of the match.

Murphy raced into a 6-1 lead even though he could manage a highest break of only 55.

Wattana bounced back to win the next three frames, which included consecutive breaks of 61 and 63, but the champion produced a 49 clearance after the Thai missed an easy black off its spot to make it 7-4.

Murphy never looked back after that and reeled off the final three frames with relative comfort.

Steve Davis made heavy weather of a truncated first session against Andy Hicks but finished 6-2 in front at the end of a painstaking slog which lasted three hours and 40 minutes.

Neither player could get into his stride in a scrappy encounter – but after sharing the first four frames, 16th seed Davis won the last four on the bounce to put himself in the driving seat.

The slow progress of the pair meant the ninth frame of their session was unable to be played. Graeme Dott will resume tomorrow morning, needing just three more frames to complete victory over 1991 champion John Parrott.

The doughty Scot, always a fierce competitor, fashioned five half-centuries in the opening six frames – including a 98 in the opener – to forge 6-0 ahead.

Parrott won the next two to reduce his arrears to four. But Dott, seeded 14, secured the final frame of the session to go into tomorrow 7-2 up.