The 33-year-old Frenchman, who was making his first appearance after suffering an ankle-injury during January's Tournament of Champions, twice overturned game deficits against Australian Cameron Pilley.

He eventually needed five games to progess with the number two seed winning 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-2, 11-7.

"Today wasn’t the best squash but I just did what I could," said Gaultier.

"At 2-1 down I was telling the coaches that I just wanted to go back to France but they found the right words to motivate me and thankfully it worked.

“I’m happy to still be in the tournament and hopefully I can play better in the next round.”

There was also a fright for three-time world champion Ramy Ashour, with the Egyptian going 2-0 down to Mexican qualifier Cesar Salazar at the Airco Arena.

He eventually found his range to triumph 1-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3.

There were no scares for home hopeful Nick Matthew with the number three seed easing past his compatriot Adrian Waller 11-7, 11-4, 11-8.

In the women's competition, world number six Omneya Abdel Kawy narrowly avoided exiting with the Egyptian eventually coming through  9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 15-13 against Tesni Evans of Wales.

Malaysia's number two seed Nicol David beat Egyptian qualifier Mayar Hany 11-8, 11-9, 11-0 and number four ranked Nour El Sherbini of Egypt came past Guyana's Nicolette Fernandes 11-3, 11-7, 11-6 .