Germany's Thorsten Hohmann has won his first match in the Damas World 8 Ball Pool Championship, but not without a struggle.
The former World 9 Ball Champion and current World No 4 had a neck and neck two-hour marathon battle to the deciding frame against the UAE resident Shervin Rahini.
Hohmann was clearly feeling the heat against his lesser known rival but was relieved to finish the match, sinking the final 8 ball to keep his Fujairah campaign alive and on track.
In other results, defending Champion Efren Reyes went down in a shock defeat to Hisashi Kusano, losing 8-3.
UAE players Mohammad Al Hosani, Ismael Yaqoob, Ameen Fikree and Hanni Al Howri all toiled hard in their opening encounters but had no joy against some of the world's best players.
Results
Group 1
Efren Reyes 8:0 James Ortega
Hisashi Kusano 8:0 Mohammad Khan
Mike Massey 8:0 Jun Bongabong
Fabio Petroni 8:7 Kevin Smith
Hisashi Kusano 8:3 Efren Reyes
Fabio Petroni 8:3 Mike Massey
Group 2
Mika Immonen 8:2 Patrick Ooi
Chang-Jung Lin 8:1 Mohammad Al Hosani
Phil Reilly 8:1 Phil-Hyun Cho
Thorsten Hohmann 8:7 Shervin Rahimi
Mika Immonen 8:4 Chang-Jung Lin
Thorsten Hohmann 8:6 Phil Reilly
Group 3
Satoshi Kawabata 8:2 Omran Saleem
Daryl Peach 8:6 Jason Theron
Naif Aljena 8:4 Radoslaw Babica
Nick van den Berg 8:7 Phil Wilkinson
Satoshi Kawabata 8:4 Daryl Peach
Naif Aljena 8:7 Nick van den Berg
Group 4
Neils Feijen 8:3 Ismael Yaqoob
Marco Tschudi 8:3 Sandor Tot
Joven Bustamante 8:2 Max Eberle
Francisco Bustamante 8:2 Kevin Hew
Niels Feijen 8:7 Marco Tschudi
Francisco Bustamante 8:1 Joven Bustamante
Group 5
Alex Pagulayan 8:5 Tomasz Kaplan
Jeong Young-Hwa 8:6 Joebert Panga
Michael Schmidt 8:7 Amin Fikree
Jorn Kaplan 8:6 Chiang-Chia Wu
Group 6
Luc Salvas 8:6 Ebrahim Bin Amir
Jalal Yousif 8:6 Andreas Roschkowsky
Liu Cheung-Chuan 8:5 Kevin Becker
Ralf Souquet 8:2 Kamran Shawla
Group 7
Alex Lely 8:1 Saeed Al Mutawe
Ernesto Dominguez 8:4 Elmer Hoya
Christian Reimering 8:2 Matjaz Erculj
Marcus Chamat 8:6 Hanni Al Howri
Group 8
Raj Hundal 8:4 Elvis Calasang
Ismael Paez 8:3 Ross McInnes
Vilmos Foldes 8:7 Abdullah Yousif
Warren Horsley 8:5 Omar Al Serkal
