Six-time world champion Steve Davis has pulled out of the Bahrain Snooker Championship for medical reasons.
The 51-year-old has been suffering from an ear infection and his withdrawal means Welshman Dominic Dale has been handed a bye into the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Peter Ebdon was the fourth former world champion to crash out in the first round when he was beaten 5-3 by qualifier Robert Milkins.
But Stephen Hendry hinted at a return to form, beating Ricky Walden 5-3.
Hendry lost 5-4 to Walden at the Shanghai Masters and arrived in Bahrain with just one win in the first three ranking tournaments of the season.
But the seven-time world champion looked in fine touch as he set up a meeting with Barry Pinches in the last 16.
Hendry won the opening frame with a run of 60 but Walden took the second and made a break of 120 to go 2-1 up.
But Hendry fought back with breaks of 139, 111 and, after Walden took the sixth frame, 55 before dominating the eighth frame to complete the win.
"I feel as if I'm one of the best players on current form and I've no shadow of doubt that I can win this tournament""It was high quality all the way through and probably the best I've played this season, though I've not had much to judge it against," said Hendry, who is yet to win two matches in a row this season.
"Ricky is one of the form players at the moment so it was a tough draw."
Davis, meanwhile, is the fifth player to pull out of the new event with Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui also not in attendance.
One of the tournament favourites, Ryan Day, is through to the last 16 after a comprehensive 5-2 win against Stoke's Dave Harold.
Welshman Day, a finalist at October's Grand Prix in Glasgow, will now meet his compatriot and practice partner Matthew Stevens after he whitewashed Stuart Bingham 5-0.
"Dave has been playing well this season and he's a solid match player, but I'm full of confidence and I never felt in danger," said Day. "After a good run in Glasgow I want to keep it going.
"I feel as if I'm one of the best players on current form, and I've no shadow of doubt that I can win this tournament.
606: DEBATE"Matthew is one of my best mates and we travelled here together, so it would have been nice for him to be in the other half of the draw. But we will both be trying very hard to win."
Milkins, who claimed a comfortable 5-1 win in the wildcard round, capitalised on some uncharacteristic mistakes from Ebdon and opened up a 4-1 lead including a break of 114.
Ebdon rallied with a break of a 118 and he reduced the deficit to 4-3 after Milkins missed an easy red to a middle pocket which would have secured the frame.
But Milkins held on to set up a last-16 meeting with Michael Holt.
Edbon is the sixth seed to fall at the first hurdle and Neil Robertson was on the verge of becoming the seventh but came through 5-4 against Marcus Campbell.
Robertson came into the tournament with only one victory this season but raced into a 4-1 lead.
Campbell battled back with a break of 55 and then took the next two to force a deciding frame but a run of 30 helped Robertson prevail.
Joe Perry eased to a 5-1 victory over Rod Lawler, making breaks of 81 and 123.
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