John Higgins could only manage third place in Group 9 and was duly dumped out of Championship League Snooker on Monday in Leicester.
The esteemed Scot has won the invitational version of Championship League Snooker four times but will play no further part in this ranking event edition.
Higgins got his 2024/25 snooker season off to a strong start by beating Latvian rookie Artemijs Zizins 3-0 at the Mattioli Arena.
However, a 3-0 defeat to Ben Mertens subsequently put the 49 year-old in a spot of bother that he was ultimately unable to recover from.
Ahead of the third and final round of fixtures, Higgins needed to beat his final opponent Ma Hailong to have a chance of progressing.
But Ma, buoyed by a superb 111 in the opening frame, took a tight third frame to secure what proved to be a vital point.
With Mertens losing to Zizins, a 2-2 draw for the young Chinese competitor safeguarded his place in Stage Two of the competition.
It was close in Group 6 as well, with Gary Wilson going undefeated throughout the day’s play and holding off a stern challenge from fellow Englishman Joe Perry.
Wilson established control of the round-robin phase when he orchestrated a brace of early triumphs over Huang Jianbo and Michael Holt.
Yet Perry managed to accumulate four points against the same opponents, leaving an interesting crunch tie against Wilson to round off the day.
It looked promising for Perry when he won the opening frame with a break of 71, but Wilson responded with the next two to get the single point he needed to advance.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is expected to make his first appearance of the new campaign on Tuesday, meanwhile.
The Rocket is in Group 2 alongside He Guoqiang, Mitchell Mann, and amateur top-up Kayden Brierley.
In Group 12, Jack Lisowski entertains Mark Davis, Jiang Jun, and Anton Kazakov.
Monday, June 24th – Results
Group 6
1. Gary Wilson 3-0 Huang Jiahao
2. Joe Perry 2-2 Michael Holt
3. Joe Perry 3-1 Huang Jianbo
4. Gary Wilson 3-1 Michael Holt
5. Michael Holt 3-1 Huang Jiahao
6. Gary Wilson 2-2 Joe Perry
Group 9
1. John Higgins 3-0 Artemijs Zizins
2. Ma Hailong 2-2 Ben Mertens
3. Ma Hailong 3-0 Artemijs Zizins
4. Ben Mertens 3-0 John Higgins
5. Artemijs Zizins 3-0 Ben Mertens
6. John Higgins 2-2 Ma Hailong
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
Pleased to hear the Darling of Dublin has been given a fresh invitational tour card. World Snooker claimed to have no hesitation in giving him one but yet waited until the first event was already well underway. It means the Republic of Ireland have two pros on the main tour.
No great surprise Stephen Hendry turned down his card.
Thanks for the updates.
Ger Murphy