Si Jiahui prevailed from Group 25 of Championship League Snooker on Saturday at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
The 20 year-old from China caused a sensation at the World Championship in April when he reached the last four at the Crucible Theatre as a qualifier.
Si’s swashbuckling style endeared him to many fans of the game, and he’ll be hoping to build on that breakthrough during the 2023/24 campaign.
A behind-closed-doors opener provided a very different setting to the one he became used to in Sheffield.
But Si produced some consistent snooker to record victories over Haydon Pinhey and Mark Joyce either side of a draw with Mohamed Ibrahim.
The undefeated run provided him with seven points and a place in the last 32 of the season-opening ranking event.
- CLICK HERE: Robert Milkins and Sam Craigie reach Stage Two
Elsewhere, James Cahill left it late but snatched top spot away from Matthew Selt at the very end of the day in Group 20.
The latter had appeared to be in control of the round-robin phase when he earned a brace of 3-0 triumphs from his opening ties against Sydney Wilson and Andres Petrov.
Selt required just a single frame from his final outing against Cahill, but the younger Englishman bagged the whitewash win he needed to advance instead.
Both Si Jiahui and James Cahill will next feature in Stage Two of Championship League Snooker in just over a week’s time.
There’ll be a rest day on Sunday before Stage One resumes on Monday with another couple of groups.
World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan had been expected to enter the fray in Group 1, but the Rocket has withdrawn and been replaced by Michael Holt.
The former Snooker Shoot Out champion will take on Scott Donaldson, Alfie Burden, and Rod Lawler instead.
Noppon Saengkham headlines Group 19 alongside Mark Davis, Ross Muir, and Jenson Kendrick.
Stage 1 draw
| Group 1 (July 10) | Group 2 (July 11) | Group 3 (June 26) | Group 4 (July 12) |
| Michael Holt | 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 | Robert Milkins | |
| Long Zehuang | |||
| 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 | |
| Jamie Clarke | Mark Davis | James Cahill | |
| Andy Lee | Jenson Kendrick | ||
| Stuart Carrington | Ross Muir |
| Group 21 (June 27) | Group 22 (June 28) | Group 23 (July 7) | Group 24 (July 6) |
| Chris Wakelin | Pang Junxu | ||
| Robbie Williams | Sam Craigie | ||
| Group 25 (July 8) | Group 26 (July 5) | Group 27 (June 30) | Group 28 (July 4) |
| Si Jiahui | Jak Jones | Anthony Hamilton | |
| 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
