Thepchaiya Un-Nooh went undefeated as he progressed from Group 32 of Championship League Snooker in Leicester on Friday.
The Thai star opened his account at the Mattioli Arena with a 3-1 victory over Mark Joyce, who was competing in the tournament this year as a top-up amateur.
Un-Nooh followed that up with a more convincing 3-0 outing against Julien Leclercq where he compiled a brace of century breaks.
Those wins brought him to the brink of advancing, but the former Shoot Out king still needed to avoid defeat to Daniel Wells in his remaining fixture.
By that point, the latter had secured four points with a win and a draw against the same opponents.
When Wells duly went 1-0 in front with a break of 91, it looked like the Welshman might be about to snatch first place.
But Un-Nooh won the next two frames to gain the point that guaranteed him top spot and a place in the last 32.
Group 10 was an even closer affair, with all four contenders in with a shot of progressing heading into the last round of fixtures.
The opening four games between Robert Milkins, Jackson Page, Andrew Higginson, and Iulian Boiko were shared, leaving them all on two points.
A dramatic finale then saw Page and Higginson edge Milkins and Boiko with respective 3-1 scorelines.
That ensured that they both finished on five points with identical records, but Page advanced courtesy of his crucial higher break of 127 against Milkins.
On Saturday, the action in the season-opening ranking event continues with another couple of groups from Stage One.
Group 29 sees Dominic Dale in action against Ben Woollaston, Stan Moody, and Dylan Emery.
In Group 30, meanwhile, Jamie Jones will face Liu Hongyu, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, and Chris Totten.
Championship League Snooker
Stage One Draw
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
Scott Donaldson | He Guoqiang | Shaun Murphy | Mark Williams |
Group 5 | Group 6 | Group 7 | Group 8 |
Ali Carter | Gary Wilson | Robbie McGuigan | Jak Jones |
Group 9 | Group 10 | Group 11 | Group 12 |
Ma Hailong | Jackson Page | Ryan Day | Jack Lisowski |
Group 13 | Group 14 | Group 15 | Group 16 |
Si Jiahui | Hossein Vafaei | David Gilbert | Fan Zhengyi |
Group 17 | Group 18 | Group 19 | Group 20 |
Chris Wakelin | Stuart Bingham | Long Zehuang | Stuart Carrington |
Group 21 | Group 22 | Group 23 | Group 24 |
Neil Robertson | Joe O’Connor | Michael White | Martin O’Donnell |
Group 25 | Group 26 | Group 27 | Group 28 |
Matthew Stevens | Alexander Ursenbacher | David Lilley | Wu Yize |
Group 29 | Group 30 | Group 31 | Group 32 |
Ben Woollaston | Jamie Jones | Ashley Carty | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
Stage Two
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
Scott Donaldson | David Gilbert | Long Zehuang | Mark Williams |
Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
Ali Carter | David Lilley | Jackson Page | Martin O’Donnell |
Stage Three
Final Group 1 | Final Group 2 |
Ali Carter | Jackson Page |
Final (bo5)
Ali Carter 3-1 Jackson Page
Featured photo credit: WST
Please include guide to TV coverage of snooker
There is information about how to watch in the preview article for this tournament: https://snookerhq.com/2024/06/10/championship-league-snooker-2024-draw-schedule-prize-money-how-to-watch/