Yuan Sijun boasted a 100% record as he powered his way through to Stage Two of Championship League Snooker on Wednesday.
The 25 year-old didn’t lose a single frame across the day’s play at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, orchestrating a hat-trick of 3-0 scorelines.
Yuan first bagelled amateur top-up Stuart Carrington before also whitewashing Alexander Ursenbacher with a brace of 75 breaks.
The best was to come in his final round-robin fixture where the former ranking event semi-finalist contributed runs of 123, 106, and 104 in a 3-0 rout of Sanderson Lam.
Yuan has been a main tour player since 2017 and ended last season with a career-high world ranking of number 30.
Having seen the likes of Zhao Xintong, Xiao Guodong, and Lei Peifan produce title-winning form in recent times, he’ll be hoping to become the next Chinese member to make the transition to becoming a regular tournament contender.
In Group 25, meanwhile, veteran Matthew Stevens topped proceedings with a record of two victories and a draw.
After comfortably beating Xu Yichen 3-0 and drawing 2-2 with Lan Yuhao, it all came down to his last outing against Ryan Day, who had secured 3-1 defeats of the same opponents.
Day only needed a point to advance but was on the wrong end of a 3-1 reverse, with countryman Stevens advancing in the competition instead.
Stevens, who won both of his qualifying matches last week, is a former winner of the invitational version of Championship League Snooker.
Both Yuan Sijun and Matthew Stevens move forward to Stage Two that will take place later in July, but before that there are still 26 groups to be contested in Stage One.
The action continues on Thursday with Wu Yize fronting Group 9 alongside Wang Yuchen, Kreishh Gurbaxani, and Craig Steadman.
Three-time ranking event winner Ricky Walden is in Group 28 with Robert Milkins, Chang Bingyu, and Steven Hallworth.
Championship League Snooker represents the opening ranking event of the fledgling 2025/26 snooker season.
The overall winner on July 23rd will take home £33,000 worth of prize money and ranking points, plus a ticket to the lucrative Champion of Champions invitational later this year.
Live coverage is available for Ireland and UK viewers on the Matchroom Multi Sport and Matchroom Pool YouTube channels.
Wednesday’s Results
Group 18
Yuan Sijun 3-0 Stuart Carrington
Sanderson Lam 2-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Sanderson Lam 2-2 Stuart Carrington
Yuan Sijun 3-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Stuart Carrington 3-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Yuan Sijun 3-0 Sanderson Lam
Table
1. Yuan Sijun – 9 points
2. Stuart Carrington – 4 points
3. Sanderson Lam – 2 points
4. Alexander Ursenbacher – 1 point
Group 25
Ryan Day 3-1 Lan Yuhao
Matthew Stevens 3-0 Xu Yichen
Matthew Stevens 2-2 Lan Yuhao
Ryan Day 3-1 Xu Yichen
Lan Yuhao 3-1 Xu Yichen
Matthew Stevens 3-1 Ryan Day
Table
1. Matthew Stevens – 7 points
2. Ryan Day – 6 points
3. Lan Yuhao – 4 points
4. Xu Yichen – 0 points
Featured photo credit: WST
