JUDD TRUMP admits that he must to improve if he is to progress further in the 2022 Cazoo UK Championship at the York Barbican after a narrow 6-5 win over Xiao Guodong.
Triple Crown champion Trump, whose last Barbican success came in 2011, was taken to a decider by the world number 34 in an attritional battle.
If he is to make it beyond the last 16, the world number two's performance level must rise, he admitted.
"It was tough, they were tough conditions and it was a battle out there," reflected Trump.
"The table was heavy and I think the weather conditions have made it tough inside.
"I've not played well here for a while, so I was happy to get through. My record here is so bad that it was just important to get through. They're the (type of) games that I've been losing to lower-ranked players.
"I know that I'm going to have to improve, but it's just nice to be in and amongst these big events.
"I'll battle on and anything can happen in the next game."
Elsewhere in the last 32, six-time ranking finalist Jack Lisowski breezed past Chinese youngster Xu Si 6-1 while 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham dispatched world number 42 Liam Highfield 6-2.
Three-time world champion Mark Williams suffered a shock 6-3 exit to fellow Welshman Jamie Clarke.
Tomorrow afternoon (1pm), in the last 16, record seven-time UK champion Ronnie O'Sullivan plays last month's Northern Ireland Open finalist Zhou Yuelong and 2021 UK runner-up Luca Brecel takes on Tom Ford, who toppled four-time world champion John Higgins on Sunday.
Tomorrow night (7pm), world numbers eight and nine, Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen face off and four-time ranking event winner Ryan Day battles Newcastle's Sam Craigie.
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