Mark Williams won Group 4 of the Championship League at Crondon Park on Thursday.
The Welshman topped the round-robin phase with five wins out of six before coming from 2-0 down to edge Graeme Dott in a semi-final decider.
Williams met world no.1 Mark Selby in the final and, following a superb 131 century to open the contest, the 40 year-old coasted to a whitewash win.
The two-time world champion moves into the Winners’ Group alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire – with three more players still to make up the final field in March.
Selby had beaten Neil Robertson in the last four to reach his second successive group final, but suffered the same fate as he had done earlier in the week to Scotland’s Maguire.
The ‘Jester’ will be able to try his luck again in Group 5 next month, as will Robertson, Dott and fifth placed Ricky Walden.
Englishmen Mark Davis, David Gilbert and Kyren Wilson are expected to enter the fold, as Michael White and Ben Woollaston have been eliminated.
