Long Zehuang dominated Group 19 as Championship League Snooker continued on Saturday in Leicester.
The 27 year-old Chinese competitor won all three of his round-robin fixtures to sit pretty at the top of his league table.
Long, who turned professional a year ago and reached the last 16 of the Snooker Shoot Out, started his account off with a 3-1 defeat of Lei Peifan.
He subsequently repeated the same scoreline two more times, scoring breaks of 98, 78, 68, and 60 in seeing off amateur top-ups Alfie Davies and Jamie O’Neill.
Long was joined in the last 32 by Stuart Carrington, who also went undefeated during the day’s play in Group 20.
The Englishman got off to a nice opening at the Mattioli Arena by securing a 3-1 triumph over Gong Chenzhi with a break of 107 in the fourth frame.
Carrington then overcame Gerard Greene with a whitewash display before his crunch tie came against the group’s highest seed Pang Junxu.
Pang had accumulated four points by this stage having only managed a draw against Greene.
The young player from China needed to beat Carrington to progress and the situation looked tight when the pair shared the opening two frames.
But Pang’s fate was sealed when Carrington duly won the third frame to safeguard the single point he required to reach Stage Two.
The 2024/25 snooker season’s first ranking tournament takes a break on Sunday before resuming with more Stage One action on Monday.
John Higgins is set to make his first appearance of the new campaign in Group 9 against Ma Hailong, Ben Mertens, and Artemijs Zizins.
In Group 6, meanwhile, Gary Wilson faces Joe Perry, Michael Holt, and Huang Jianbo.
Saturday, June 22nd – Results
Group 19
1. Jamie O’Neill 2-2 Alfie Davies
2. Long Zehuang 3-1 Lei Peifan
3. Long Zehuang 3-1 Alfie Davies
4. Lei Peifan 3-0 Jamie O’Neill
5. Alfie Davies 3-1 Lei Peifan
6. Long Zehuang 3-1 Jamie O’Neill
Group 20
1. Pang Junxu 2-2 Gerard Greene
2. Stuart Carrington 3-1 Gong Chenzhi
3. Stuart Carrington 3-0 Gerard Greene
4. Pang Junxu 3-1 Gong Chenzhi
5. Gong Chenzhi 3-1 Gerard Greene
6. Pang Junxu 2-2 Stuart Carrington
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: WPBSA
