Mark Williams began his 32nd season on the World Snooker Tour with three victories to top Group 6 of the Championship League on Friday.
The three-time world champion lost only one frame at the Morningside Arena – during his 3-1 defeat of Ken Doherty.
Either side of that triumph over the Irishman, Williams recorded 3-0 successes against amateur Daniel Holoyda and fellow Welshman Dylan Emery.
The 48 year-old compiled a brace of century breaks and made half a dozen half-century contributions to comfortably reach Stage Two of the competition.
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Williams didn’t capture any silverware during the 2022/23 campaign but reached the final of the Masters and is still ranked inside the world’s top ten.
Meanwhile, Barry Pinches rolled back the years to finish in first place in Group 27 with an undefeated record from his round-robin ties.
The 52 year-old, who is competing as an amateur top-up after losing his professional status at the end of the last term, took seven points to qualify for the last 32.
Pinches first beat young Belgian Julien Leclercq 3-1 before orchestrating a 2-2 draw with Jordan Brown, the pre-group favourite.
In his last fixture, former world number 18 Pinches overcame fellow amateur Joshua Thomand to pip Leclercq by a point in the standings.
It brings to an end week one of Stage One in the Championship League with ten players having now qualified for the next phase in July.
Next week, another twelve groups will take place at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, starting again on Monday.
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Stage 1 draw
| Group 1 (July 10) | Group 2 (July 11) | Group 3 (June 26) | Group 4 (July 12) |
| Ronnie O’Sullivan | Judd Trump | Shaun Murphy | |
| Scott Donaldson | Xu Si | Tian Pengfei | |
| Rod Lawler | Jimmy White | Lukas Kleckers | |
| Alfie Burden | Reanne Evans | Ashley Carty | Andrew Pagett |
| Group 5 (June 29) | Group 6 (June 30) | Group 7 (July 6) | Group 8 (July 7) |
| Kyren Wilson | Mark Williams | Ali Carter | Robert Milkins |
| Jackson Page | Dominic Dale | ||
| Long Zehuang | Muhammad Asif | ||
| Ryan Davies | Alex Taubman |
| Group 9 (July 14) | Group 10 (June 28) | Group 11 (June 27) | Group 12 (July 12) |
| Gary Wilson | Barry Hawkins | ||
| John Astley | Michael White | Zhang Anda | |
| Mink Nutcharut | Martin O’Donnell | Sanderson Lam | |
| Ma Hailong | Jamie O’Neill |
| Group 13 (July 13) | Group 14 (July 14) | Group 15 (July 4) | Group 16 (July 3) |
| David Gilbert | Ricky Walden | Stuart Bingham | Jimmy Robertson |
| Yuan Sijun | David Lilley | Matthew Stevens | Ben Woollaston |
| Sean O’Sullivan | Peng Yisong | Allan Taylor | Liam Graham |
| Ishpreet Singh | Liu Hongyu | Duane Jones | Peter Lines |
| Group 17 (July 5) | Group 18 (July 11) | Group 19 (July 10) | Group 20 (July 8) |
| Zhou Yuelong | Joe Perry | Noppon Saengkham | Matthew Selt |
| Ashley Hugill | Jamie Clarke | Mark Davis | James Cahill |
| Oliver Brown | Andy Lee | Jenson Kendrick | Andres Petrov |
| TBC | Stuart Carrington | Ross Muir | Sydney Wilson |
| Group 21 (June 27) | Group 22 (June 28) | Group 23 (July 7) | Group 24 (July 6) |
| Chris Wakelin | Fan Zhengyi | Pang Junxu | |
| Robbie Williams | Sam Craigie | Wu Yize | |
| Fergal O’Brien | Hammad Miah | ||
| Ahmed Aly Elsayed | Stan Moody |
| Group 25 (July 8) | Group 26 (July 5) | Group 27 (June 30) | Group 28 (July 4) |
| Si Jiahui | Jak Jones | Anthony Hamilton | |
| Mark Joyce | Jamie Jones | Ben Mertens | |
| Mohamed Ibrahim | Rebecca Kenna | Ryan Thomerson | |
| Haydon Pinhey | Dean Young | Barry Pinches | Xing Zihao |
| Group 29 (June 29) | Group 30 (June 26) | Group 31 (July 13) | Group 32 (July 3) |
| Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | Cao Yupeng | Xiao Guodong | |
| Lyu Haotian | Martin Gould | ||
| Daniel Wells | Ian Burns | Alexander Ursenbacher | |
| Steven Hallworth | Rory McLeod |
Featured photo credit: CLSnooker
