Ebdon clawed his way back after trailing 4-0 and 5-1, levelling the match at 7-7. But Stevens, who reached the last eight of the competition 12 months ago, held his nerve to win the three frames he required to cross the finishing line yesterday.

Meanwhile, Mark King has a slender lead over experienced Welshman Darren Morgan. After establishing a 3-0 lead, the No.16 seed saw Morgan win four out of the next six frames to cut his lead to 5-4.

Earlier in the day, Ken Doherty completed a comfortable 10-3 win over Steve James to reach the second round of the championship.

Doherty, last year's runner-up, was left to reflect on a missed opportunity to compile a maximum 147 break-- worth 167,000 pounds-- in the penultimate frame.

``It was a great opportunity because the balls were so nice,'' he admitted. ``I just got a bit straight on the black.

It is very special toget a 147, especially at the crucible. You don't get many chances, but at least I won the match and that's more important.''

Doherty now faces Nigel Bond in the second round.

Canada's Alain Robidoux became the second seeded player to go out of the tournament when he was beaten 10-6 by Nick Walker, while James Wattana of Thailand edged to a 5-4 overnight lead in his best of 19 frames clash with rising young Hong Kong star Marco Fu. Fu, ranked 377th in the world, was making his championship debut.