Jack Lisowski topped Group 13 and sealed his place in the last 32 of Championship League Snooker on Tuesday.
The Englishman is one of the highest ranked players left in the draw and among the betting favourites to the land the season’s first title.
Victory for the popular player known as Jackpot would, of course, finally represent a maiden ranking event triumph on the World Snooker Tour.
The 34 year-old has generally been regarded as the best player on the circuit in recent seasons who hasn’t yet managed to etch his name onto silverware.
Lisowski got his 2025 Championship League Snooker campaign off to a strong start by beating Ashley Carty 3-1 at the Mattioli Arena.
A resounding 3-0 defeat of Ross Muir followed, ensuring that he needed just a point from his last round-robin fixture to move through.
By winning two out of the opening three frames against Gong Chenzhi, the six-time ranking event runner-up safeguarded the required draw.
With the likes of world number one Judd Trump, world champion Zhao Xintong, and a host of other marquee names having not entered this event, Lisowski is now the joint favourite to go all the way to glory.
Lisowski and Wu Yize, who is similarly chasing a maiden title after a couple of close misses last season, boast outright snooker betting odds of 8/1.
Pang Junxu, meanwhile, won Group 14 in Leicester with a record of two victories and one defeat.
The Chinese competitor ended last season by qualifying for the Crucible, where he reached the last 16, and matching his career-high world ranking of number 26.
Pang has carried that form forward into the new campaign and qualified for Stage Two with wins over Dean Young and Oliver Lines.
Both Jack Lisowski and Pang Junxu will rejoin the fray later this month when the next phase of group stages take place.
Before that, there are still half of the groups from Stage One to be completed with two more on the agenda for Wednesday’s order of play.
Former champion David Gilbert headlines Group 12 and will be challenged by Duane Jones, Louis Heathcote, and Paul Deaville.
Last year’s Scottish Open winner Lei Peifan is in Group 19 alongside Long Zehuang, Mateusz Baranowski, and Ryan Davies.
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.
Tuesday’s Results
Group 13
Jack Lisowski 3-1 Ashley Carty
Gong Chenzhi 2-2 Ross Muir
Gong Chenzhi 3-0 Ashley Carty
Jack Lisowski 3-0 Ross Muir
Ross Muir 2-2 Ashley Carty
Jack Lisowski 2-2 Gong Chenzhi
Table
1. Jack Lisowski – 7 points
2. Gong Chenzhi – 5 poiints
3. Ross Muir – 2 points
4. Ashley Carty – 1 point
Group 14
Pang Junxu 3-0 Dean Young
Oliver Lines 2-2 Jiang Jun
Oliver Lines 3-0 Dean Young
Jiang Jun 3-1 Pang Junxu
Dean Young 3-1 Jiang Jun
Pang Junxu 3-0 Oliver Lines
Table
1. Pang Junxu – 6 points
2. Jiang Jun – 4 points
3. Oliver Lines – 4 points
4. Dean Young – 3 points
Featured photo credit: WST
