Marco Fu came from behind to defeat China's Li Yuan to break through the wild card round at the 2008 World Snooker China Open in Beijing on Monday.
The Hong Kong star overcame a 0-2 deficit to beat Li 5-4 and will face "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sulliva in the next round for a berth in the top 16.
"I am not the better one. Li Yuan performed well to keep pressure on me. I think he's lacking luck so I feel just lucky," said Fu.
"I played with Ronnie many times before and I kept a good record against him. It will be a memorable thing to play against him in China, especially in Beijing," he added.
"I didn't perform well in the deciding frame for I wasted several chances to win," said Li Yuan. "I felt quite nervous and made mistakes. I think it was because I don't have enough experience."
Li was one of the eight wildcard Chinese ousted on Monday.
Jin Long lost his best chance to win in the final frame and was beaten by Dave Harold 5-4. Mark Allen of England defeated Li Hang 5-2 while Rikcy Walden won over Yu Delu 5-3.
Earlier, Zhang An'da lost to England's Barry Pinches 5-1. Chinese captain Yang Qingtian was defeated 5-1 by Mike Dunn, also of England. Irish Fergal O' Brien beat Cao Xinlong 5-2 to qualify for Round 1.
Scotch Marcus Campbell faces Mark Williams in Round 1 on Tuesday after winning over Chinese A Bulajiang 5-4. A Bulajiang lost his best chance to win in frame nine after missing one red ball, which he blamed the new table for moving balls too fast.
"I'm not used to this new table. It was quite different from the table I practiced in the past month," said A Bulajiang. "I played not very well and the ball didn't move as I expected."
Round 1 of China Open will start on Tuesday while China's star player Ding Junhui plays against Joe Parry.
(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2008)