Martin Gould advanced to the Winners Group of the Championship League after victory in Group 5 at Crondon Park.
The Englishman had got off to the worst possible start on Monday after losing his opening three matches to Barry Hawkins, Ricky Walden and Stephen Maguire to place bottom of the table after the first day.
But the recent Sky Shoot-Out champion saw off Ryan Day, Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry to squeeze into the play-off berths, where he then went from strength to strength.
The 31 year-old ‘Pinner Potter’ gained revenge by seeing off both Hawkins and Maguire 3-1 in the semi-finals and final respectively.
The competition has proved to be very lucrative for Gould having already reached a final and two semi-finals in the opening four groups and he now has the opportunity to not only reap more rewards in the seven-man Winners Group but also the potential to be invited to the Premier League by becoming overall champion.
He joins John Higgins, Ali Carter, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen with only two more places up for grabs.
Like so often is the case, Scotsman Maguire dominated the round robin phase with five wins and only one defeat but, despite whitewashing Walden in the last four and taking an early lead in the final, he had to settle with a runner-up spot and another crack in Group 6 – taking place over the next couple of days.
Walden, Hawkins and Day, who finished fifth in the group, also have another chance but Perry and Ebdon, who lost all of his encounters, are eliminated.
Along with Gould, the trio will be replaced by Dominic Dale, Marcus Campbell and German Masters runner-up Marco Fu for tomorrow’s action.
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It is streamed on over 30 online betting websites so if you are not signed up to any, or even you are, www.freebets.org.uk is an excellent source of information as to where you can avail of good new account deals and voucher coupons.
