Mark Allen struggled with conditions as he kickstarted his Betfred World Championship bid with a victory over Scott Donaldson.
The former Masters champion survived a potential banana skin with a 10-6 win over the Scottish qualifier a the Crucible on Monday nigh.
“I was struggling with the table,” said Allen, who set up a tasty last-16 clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan, who he beat at the same stage en route to the semi-finals in 2009.
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“It wasn’t the best one I’ve ever played on and it actually got worse as the day went on.
"Me and Scott both spoke to the referee in the evening to see if it was the same set of balls in the evening.
“It doesn’t lend itself to the best spectacles when cushions are bouncing and things like that.”
But world No 15 Allen was relieved to get over the line against the plucky Perth potter.
Allen led 5-4 after the morning session as he knocked in breaks of 109, 107, 80 and 61.
But Donaldson fought back in the evening to reduce his arrears to 7-6 behind, only for Allen to dig deep to get the job done with three frames on the spin.
“Scott was getting on top,” admitted the Antrim ace. “I was just hanging in there in the first session.
“I got out of jail a bit there. I’ve made one or two mistakes you can’t afford to be making.
“I feel like I’m a little bit lost with my game. You can get away with it because it doesn’t look too bad, but I absolutely hate it.
“I pride myself on my cue ball control and when I’m a couple of inches out I absolutely hate it.”
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