Former champion Stephen Maguire booked his place in the last 16 of the Six Red World Championship after a 5-1 victory over Wu Yize on Tuesday.
The Scot, who triumphed in Bangkok five years ago, progresses with a match to spare after dropping only a single frame across his first two matches.
Maguire is already a champion on the circuit this season after capturing the World Cup with John Higgins for Scotland in June.
Amateurs Wu and Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn appear set to jostle for the second qualifying spot from Group B, barring an unlikely turnaround from the struggling Luca Brecel.
Brecel needs to hammer Wu and hope that Maguire does him a favour against Lertsattayatthorn if the Belgian is to avoid a first stage exit.
Groups A and G, meanwhile, are already as good as done after two players from each group continued their 100% success rate in the competition.
Defending champion Kyren Wilson is safely through alongside Passakorn Suwannawat, one of the many home competitors from Thailand in the field.
Ali Carter and 2016 finalist Stuart Bingham will join them in the last 16 line-up after winning both of their round-robin encounters.
The remaining groups are delicately poised with the last round of league fixtures determining who stays alive in this year’s edition of the Six Red World Championship.
Ding Junhui and Mark Williams, champions in 2016 and 2017 respectively, have also secured their berths into the first knockout round.
Ding has won both of his opening affairs with 5-3 scorelines to top Group C, with Joe Perry and Noppon Saengkham set for a winner-takes-all battle on Wednesday for the second qualifying spot.
There’s a similar outlook in Group H with Welshman Williams’ 5-4 defeat of Graeme Dott guaranteeing his positioning in the top two.
Dott and another ex-champion in Thepchaiya Un-Nooh will go head-to-head for the additional ticket.
In Group E, John Higgins is through as well after substantiating his initial victory over home hero James Wattana with a 5-0 drubbing of Riga Masters champion Yan Bingtao.
Teenager Yan and veteran Wattana, at the opposite ends of their careers, will fight it out to finish in second place.
Gary Wilson’s 5-3 success over Mark Selby has given him the assendancy in Group D and he’ll definitely feature at the next hurdle.
Selby will face Akani Songsermsawad in his last game with a victory needed to stay in the competition.
By contrast, the complete outcome of Group F is still to be ironed out.
David Gilbert tops the table with a pair of wins but a one-sided loss against Ryan Day and a whitewash win for Jimmy White could yet see the latter duo leapfrog the Crucible semi-finalist.
The Six Red World Championship runs until Saturday with more than £100,000 at stake for the champion.
The 2019 Six Red World Championship has gotten heated, as we enter the crucial stages of the competition.
http://www.topsoccerblog.com