ALI CARTER AND SCOTT DONALDSON SECURE THEIR SPOTS IN THE THIRD STAGE

Ali Carter and Scott Donaldson advanced to the third stage, while Jack Lisowski, Chris Wakelin, and Fan Zhengyi exited the BetVictor Championship League ranking event at Morningside Arena, Leicester.

Results/Fixtures

Group E
After Neil Robertson’s withdrawal from the tournament yesterday, Group E was reduced to a three-player group, requiring Ali Carter, Jack Lisowski, and Wu Yize to play each other twice to complete the six fixtures.

Ali Carter opened the day against 2023 Wuhan Open semi-finalist Wu Yize, who snatched the victory from the Englishman. Carter lost momentum in the second frame, allowing Yize to surpass his run of 46 with a 55, followed by a 76 in the third. To avoid defeat, Carter executed an 88 run to tie the game 2-2.

Looking to claim their first victory of the day, both players faced the six-time ranking finalist Jack Lisowski. Wu Yize compiled a solid run of 67, 143, and 70 to beat Lisowski 3-0, who was shortly after defeated by Ali Carter 3-1 to complete the afternoon sessions.

Repeating the fixture and the result, Carter and Yize followed up with another 2-2 result in the evening sessions. However, “Jackpot” Lisowski found his luck in his second matchup against the Chinese cueman, redeeming himself with a 3-0 win.

Captain Carter capitalized on Wu Yize’s loss in the final match of the day, defeating Lisowski 3-1 with the support of a brilliant century break of 120 to secure his spot in the third stage.

Group A
The Scotsman Scott Donaldson opened the day by swiftly defeating the 2023 Shoot Out Champion Chris Wakelin. Despite Wakelin claiming the first frame, he was unable to disrupt Donaldson’s run of 74, 106, and 81, securing Donaldson his first win of the day.

Donaldson proceeded to take on Thai cueist Thepchaiya Un-Nooh with the same attitude, claiming a swift 3-0 victory to claim the top spot of the group as the afternoon sessions concluded. While Donaldson missed out on a final victory, drawing to Fan Zhengyi, the Perthshire Potting Prince maintained the top position by 7 points, advancing to the final stage.

The Championship League is the first ranking event of the new season and was won last year by Shaun Murphy. The opening tournament of the season runs until July 3rd. In the first phase, 128 players are split into 32 groups of four, with those 32 group winners going through to the next round.

The tournament takes place over three stages, starting on Monday, 10 June. Winners’ Week will run from Friday 28, June concluding with Finals Day on Wednesday, 3 July. The eventual winner will also receive an invite into the 2024 Champion of Champions this November 11 to November 17 alongside the £20,000 first-place prize.

Stage 2 resumes on Monday, 1st July, with 2024 World Championship finalist Jak Jones kicking off the Table 1 action, joined by Matthew Stevens, Martin O’Donnell, and Ma Hailong. On Table 2, the “Welsh Potting Machine” Mark Williams makes his second stage appearance, competing alongside Si Jiahui, Ben Woollaston, and Stuart Carrington.

For details on how to watch, click here.

(Photo by Zheng Zhai)