Teenager Artemijs Zizins won all three of his round-robin fixtures from Group 4 to progress in Championship League Snooker on Saturday.
The Latvian topped a group at the Mattioli Arena involving former World Championship semi-finalist and current top-16 member Si Jiahui.
Zizins, who performed well as a rookie last season, comfortably beat Si 3-0 in his opening outing of the day in Leicester – making breaks of 75 and 74.
The 19 year-old subsequently overcame amateur top-up Kayden Brierley by the same margin to move to within a point of advancing.
Only a draw was needed from his remaining match against Farakh Ajaib, but a break of 92 helped him to a 3-1 victory and a perfect total of nine points.
Robbie Williams topped Group 30, meanwhile, with a record of two wins and a draw.
The Englishman hasn’t enjoyed a particularly strong spell on the tour but managed to orchestrate an undefeated run to move through in the competition.
Williams beat new professional Florian Nuessle 3-0 in his first game before securing a 2-2 tie with Iulian Boiko.
By this point, Ben Woollaston appeared to have the group under control after defeating the same opponents to lead on six points.
Woollaston needed just a draw against Williams and led 1-0, but the latter responded with contributions of 72, 60, and 53 to qualify instead.
Both Robbie Williams and Artemijs Zizins will rejoin the fray when Stage Two finally gets under way towards the end of next week.
There are still a few groups from Stage One to be completed, with the play set to resume on Monday after a day’s respite.
Barry Hawkins – the tournament’s highest-ranked player and number one seed – is in Group 1 alongside Hayden Pinhey, Haris Tahir, and John Astley.
Zhou Yuelong fronts Group 20 with David Lilley, David Grace, and Ashley Hugill for company.
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.
Saturday’s Results
Group 4
Artemijs Zizins 3-0 Si Jiahui
Farakh Ajaib 3-1 Kayden Brierley
Si Jiahui 2-2 Farakh Ajaib
Artemijs Zizins 3-0 Kayden Brierley
Artemijs Zizins 3-1 Farakh Ajaib
Si Jiahui 3-0 Kayden Brierley
Table
1. Artemijs Zizins – 9 points
2. Si Jiahui – 4 points
3. Farakh Ajaib – 4 points
4. Kayden Brierley – 0 points
Group 30
Ben Woollaston 3-1 Iulian Boiko
Robbie Williams 3-0 Florian Nuessle
Robbie Williams 2-2 Iulian Boiko
Ben Woollaston 3-1 Florian Nuessle
Florian Nuessle 3-1 Iulian Boiko
Robbie Williams 3-1 Ben Woollaston
Table
1. Robbie Williams – 7 points
2. Ben Woolllaston – 6 points
3. Florian Nuessle – 3 points
4. Iulian Boiko – 1 point
Featured photo credit: WST
Group Matches
From 12 noon
Si Jiahui
vs
Kayden Brierley
From 12:30pm
Artemijs Zizins
vs
Farakh Ajaib
From 1pm
Artemijs Zizins
vs
Kayden Brierley
From 5pm
Si Jiahui
vs
Farakh Ajaib
From 6pm
Farakh Ajaib
vs
Kayden Brierley
From 7pm
Si Jiahui
vs
Artemijs Zizins
He’d be pretty happy to enjoy a career of similar success to that of his compatriot Jelena Ostapenko. She remains the only Grand Slam champion Latvia have produced.
This article was a great read. I’ve been following this team for years, and it’s exciting to see their growth. I’ve written similar pieces on my website if anyone’s interested.