Top seeds of the group Robbie Williams and Elliot Slessor exit the tournament, whereas Matthew Stevens and Ashley Carty progressed into the second stage on day three at the BetVictor Championship League ranking event at Morningside Arena, Leicester.
Despite delivering a century break of 129, the highest so far in the tournament, Robbie Williams failed to win two of his matches, preventing his progression to the next round.
In contrast to the top seed of the group, Welshman Matthew Stevens, had a flying start in the afternoon session, defeating Haydon Pinhey 3-0 in his opening match. Stevens then drew 2-2 with Pakistani cueist Farakh Ajaib, who had earlier defeated group favourite Robbie Williams 3-0. Stevens capped off the day by overcoming Williams 3-1 with a run of 97, 71, and 91.
Despite achieving back-to-back 3-0 victories in his first two matches, Eliot Slessor fell short at the end of the day to the young Englishman, Ashley Carty.
Carty gained momentum with a 3-0 win against Egyptian cueist Mostafa Dorgham, followed by a 3-1 victory over Simon Blackwell. Carty then handed Eliot Slessor his only loss of the day with another 3-0 victory, featuring a top break of 81, securing his spot in the second stage with ease.
The Championship League is the first ranking event of the new season and was won last year by the 2005 World Champion, Shaun “The Magician” 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 2023 Champion of Champions this November 11 to November 17 alongside the £20,000 first-place prize.
The action continues on Thursday, with WST stars Joe O’Connor in Group 22, and Stephen Maguire in Group 23 set to open the day. For details on how to watch, click here.
(Photo by Zheng Zhai)
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