John Higgins through to World Snooker Championship second round

Resuming with a slender 5-4 advantage, Higgins won the first two frames to assume control, but began to feel tension after a missed pink in the next enabled Jones to reduce the deficit.

Even at 9-6, Higgins looked far from convincing and another missed pink hauled the Welshman back into the contest before the veteran Scot ultimately limped over the line.

Higgins, who will face Mark Allen in the last 16, said: “I began to miss a few and thought, ‘oh no, don’t do this again’. Obviously you don’t want it going 9-7 or 9-8.

“Who knows where I’ll be in a few months’ time, but my only focus was getting through that first round game and having a crack at Mark Allen.”

Third seed Judd Trump will take a commanding 6-2 lead into Friday’s second session of his second round match against Tom Ford.

Trump punished Ford for missing a routine red when he was 63 points up in the fifth frame, and on the verge of establishing a 3-2 lead.

Instead the former champion hit back to snatch the frame, and subsequent breaks of 52 and 69 set him up to also win the last frame of the session and move four clear in the race for a place in the quarter-finals.

David Gilbert, who beat defending champion Luca Brecel in the opening round, built a 5-3 lead against Robert Milkins in the opening session of their last-16 clash, which resumes to a finish on Friday.