Stuart Bingham lost his opening match of the Championship League but responded to top Group 11 on Monday.
The Englishman began the day slowly with a 3-0 defeat to Peter Devlin, who was invited to participate as an amateur top-up.
Devlin could have subsequently taken control of the group but could only manage two draws from his remaining two ties.
That left the door ajar for Bingham to mount a comeback in the standings, and the former Championship League winner duly overcame Peter Lines and Cao Yupeng to finish on six points overall – one ahead of Devlin.
It was even tighter in Group 14 of the competition as Hossein Vafaei held off Tian Pengfei on frame difference.
The Iranian, who compiled a maiden 147 break in last week’s European Masters qualifiers, earned a brace of whitewash wins from his first couple of fixtures.
Tian’s 3-0 and 3-1 successes over Ng On Yee and Ryan Thomerson respectively meant that he had the same number of points as Vafaei but boasted a one-frame inferiority going into the crucial contest between one another.
When the Chinese cueist orchestrated a 2-0 lead it was looking good, but Vafaei won a dramatic third frame on the black and subsequently took the last with a run of 59 to secure the point he required.
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Both Stuart Bingham and Hossein Vafaei will next feature in Stage Two of the Championship League later this month in Leicester.
The action for Stage One continues on Tuesday with Groups 2 and 7 at the Morningside Arena.
Judd Trump fronts Group 2 alongside Jamie Clarke, Sean O’Sullivan, and Peng Yisong, while Shaun Murphy enters the fray in Group 7 with Liam Highfield, Xu Si, and Ben Mertens.
Live coverage is available on FreeSports and Matchroom.Live in the UK and Ireland, and by various other means around the world.
Click here to view the draw (times: CET)
Featured photo credit: WST
