Ryan Day booked his spot in tomorrow evenings group playoffs after an impressive four-win streak to open day one of the 2024 BetVictor Championship League Invitational at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, live on Matchroom.Live in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the United States, Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics as well as other broadcasters worldwide.
It was Kyren Wilson who set the pace early on Tuesday with two emphatic whitewash victories, brushing both Stuart Bingham and Chris Wakelin aside 3-0 thanks to some neat potting, which included a 130 break against Shoot Out winner Wakelin.
‘Dynamite’ Day, who won the British Open in 2022, met Wilson in the first fixture of the evening, having rounded off the opening session with a 3-1 win over 2015 world champion Bingham. It was in the table-topping clash that Day could take control of the group, with two half-centuries including a match-high break of 92 helping the Bridgend star past Kyren Wilson to get to the top of the table.
His place in tomorrow’s playoffs was secured after defeating Wakelin and an early win over Gary Wilson, with four victories throughout the day seeing him top the table..
Wakelin enjoyed a productive opening day, with two wins over Noppon Saengkham and Robert Milkins putting him in good stead to reach the playoffs tomorrow, with Kyren Wilson also firmly in contention after wrapping up the day with a 3-2 win over Saengkham on Table Two – live exclusively around the world on Matchroom MultiSport’s YouTube channel.
Gary Wilson, Saengkham and Bingham all recorded one win and will be looking to make a push towards to Wednesday’s semi-finals, whilst Milkins failed to record a point throughout Tuesday.
BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational sees each of the seven players faces each other once in the round-robin group stage, after which the top four players in the league table progress to Wednesday evening’s play-offs. The eventual group champion advances to March’s Winners’ Group with the remaining players who finished in the top five during the league phase continuing to Group Two which begins on Thursday when three new players join the tournament. The bottom two players in each group phase are eliminated. All matches are best of five.
The tournament carries a prize fund of £205,000 with players earning £100 per frame won with significant bonuses for their final group position and increased prize money in the Winners’ Group.
A place in the 2024 Champion of Champions is also on the line with each group featuring seven players with matches being held over two days.
Action continues tomorrow from 11 am with the conclusion of Group 1.
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