Zhou Yuelong moved forward in the first ranking event of the new snooker season – the Championship League in Leicester.
The Chinese competitor recorded 3-0 victories over Chris Totten and Ashley Hugill either side of a 3-0 defeat to Oliver Brown.
Zhou’s tally of six points proved to be enough to see him finish in first place in Group 17, with the other three contenders all taking points off of each other.
The 25 year-old reached the final of Championship League Snooker in 2018, albeit when it was staged in its original form as an invitational tournament.
Meanwhile, Jak Jones progressed with an undefeated record from Group 26 to commence his campaign in similar fashion to how he ended the last.
After reaching the World Snooker Championship quarter-finals in April, Jones will be hoping to extend that kind of form and continue his rise up the rankings list.
Jones sandwiched defeats of Rebecca Kenna and, crucially, namesake Jamie Jones with a draw against Dean Young to finish with seven points.
Both Zhou Yuelong and Jak Jones will return to Championship League Snooker when Stage Two starts later this month.
On Wednesday, Stage One continues with Ali Carter headlining Group 7 alongside Jackson Page, Long Zehuang, and Ryan Davies.
Group 24 also takes place with Pang Junxu involved with fellow Chinese cueist Wu Yize, Hammad Miah, and tour rookie Stan Moody.
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 | ||
| Yuan Sijun | David Lilley | Matthew Stevens | Ben Woollaston |
| Sean O’Sullivan | Peng Yisong | ||
| Ishpreet Singh | Liu Hongyu |
| Group 17 (July 5) | Group 18 (July 11) | Group 19 (July 10) | Group 20 (July 8) |
| Zhou Yuelong | Joe Perry | Noppon Saengkham | Matthew Selt |
| Jamie Clarke | Mark Davis | James Cahill | |
| Andy Lee | Jenson Kendrick | Andres Petrov | |
| 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 | |||
| Mohamed Ibrahim | |||
| Haydon Pinhey | Barry Pinches |
| 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 | |||
| Daniel Wells | Ian Burns | ||
| Steven Hallworth |
Featured photo credit: WST
