Higgins won four consecutive frames to secure victory

At one stage qualifier David Roe led Higgins 3-1, before the world number one secured a 5-3 victory.

"You're thinking at 3-1 down if you lose the next frame you're on the way back home, so it was a good match to win," said Higgins.

"You can sometimes look back at those matches as a turning point in your season, but I didn't play at all well."

Higgins produced breaks of of 125, 45 and 86 to take a 4-3 lead, but the eighth frame of the match dragged on for nearly 50 minutes before the world champion won that frame on the final black.

The world champions will now play either Chinese ace Ding Junhui or Scottish compatriot Marcus Campbell in the next phase.

I'm not as fluent and attacking as I was last season. Neil Robertson

In other matches John Parrott bowed out at the first hurdle after a 5-2 loss to Cambridgeshire cueman Joe Perry, who will now meet last season's UK champion Peter Ebdon.

Hong Kong potter Marco Fu beat Shropshire qualifier Adrian Gunnell 5-3 to progress, while local favourite Ryan Day impressed with a 5-2 victory over Belfast's Mark Allen.

Meanwhile defending champion Neil Robertson has qualified for the last 16.

The Aussie ace began his title defence with an impressive 5-1 victory over Jamie Cope at the Newport Centre.

Robertson admitted: "I haven't had much rhythm so I just attacked the balls rather than waiting for my opponent to make mistakes."

There were mixed fortunes for the home hopes as Welshman Ryan Day beat Mark King 5-2 but Dominic Dale slipped to a 5-2 defeat to Alan McManus.

Robertson, the world number seven, cruised to a comfortable victory against highly-rated Cope but admitted: "This season I've been playing at a pedestrian rate.

"My average shot time last year was 13 seconds but I am not as fluent and attacking as I was last season.

"Maybe I've been looking at too many options rather than playing the first shot I see, which is usually the best one."

In other matches, teenage sensation Judd Trump made two century breaks on the way to an impressive 5-2 victory over Ulsterman Joe Swail while Masters champion Mark Selby beat Dave Harold 5-2.