Thomas Pieters and Alex Noren held off a spirited fightback from Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry to win the opening contest of the 2023 Hero Cup and help Continental Europe open up a 3-2 lead after Friday's four-ball matches.
Continental Europe made a dominant start to the week at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, with Pieters and Noren setting the ball rolling with a 1UP win before Thomas Detry and Antoine Rozner beat Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith 2UP.
But Great Britain & Ireland hit back as Séamus Power and Robert MacIntyre secured their team's first point with a decisive 4&3 win over Sepp Straka and Adrian Meronk in the bottom match.
A roller-coaster contest between Victor Perez and Guido Migliozzi and Matt Wallace and Callum Shinkwin went all the way to the 18th, with the GB&I pair winning the final hole to tie the match and earn half a point.
Meanwhile Richard Mansell holed a pressure putt at the last as he and Ewen Ferguson tied their match with Nicolai Højgaard and Francesco Molinari to prevent Continental Europe from stretching their lead.
Continental Europe looked to be home and dry in the top match after winning three holes without reply on the front nine, with Belgian Pieters playing some of his very best golf to put his team in the box seat.
GB&I reduced the gap to two holes at the tenth before Noren holed two successive clutch putts to maintain his team's two-hole advantage.
But Captain Fleetwood won the 14th and 15th for GB&I to tie the match and swing the momentum their way.
However, the 18th hole proved decisive as Noren rolled in his putt at the last to secure a 1UP victory.
Swede Noren said: "It was a battle on my behalf. I played some decent golf in the middle but just happy to get the up-and-down on the last.
"And Thomas, he hit some great shots in the end to get it, and the whole front nine he played great. He helped out the most, it was great."
Pieters said: "You try not to give them momentum and then that's what Alex did - he made big putts on the 11th and 12th and they did get some momentum, and happy to close it out on the last."
Detry and Rozner wiped out an early two-hole deficit in their match with wins at the fifth and seventh before taking the lead just before the turn courtesy of a delightful approach from Frenchman Rozner.
Englishman Smith hauled GB&I level at the tenth but the Continental Europe pair won the 12th to move ahead once more.
There was late drama as Smith holed a monster putt at the 17th to seemingly level things up but Rozner matched his birdie in style to keep Continental Europe's nose in front.
And they also won the final hole to clinch another point for Continental Europe.
Rozner said: "We formed a great team, for sure. Happy to get a point for the team."
It was not long before GB&I got their first point on the board, with Power and MacIntyre not losing a single hole in the bottom match.
They looked comfortable throughout the afternoon as they won the fourth, sixth, 11th and 12th holes to reduce GB&I's arrears.
Wallace and Shinkwin nervelessly won the final hole of their match for the first tie of the day, before the impressive Mansell ensured GB&I remained just one point behind heading into day two, with a crucial birdie putt at the last.
Wallace said: "It's a good first day. Obviously want more but the way Callum and I played, we are excited to go tomorrow."
