Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter each progressed to the next phase of Championship League Snooker after topping their groups in Leicester on Saturday.
Maguire won his seventh career ranking title last year with his victory over Joe O’Connor in the final at the Mattioli Arena.
The Scot has struggled for form in 2026 so far, and it didn’t look particularly promising when he began Group 19 with a 3-1 defeat to Anton Kazakov.
But the former world number two bounced back to record a brace of 3-0 triumphs over Ng On Yee and Robbie Williams.
The second of those proved to be crucial as Williams had only needed a draw from the end-of-day fixture to advance instead.
Group 12 was even tighter, meanwhile, as Carter edged a closely fought contest with Jamie Jones.
The Captain emerged as the Championship League Snooker winner two years ago, landing his sixth ranking title with a win over Jackson Page in the final.
Carter may once again challenge for the season-opening ranking event after just about managing to prevail against Jones.
The former World Championship runner-up headed into his final group game with the Welshman needing a 2-2 draw to pip his opponent on frame difference, the pair having already beaten both Leone Crowley and Patrick Whelan.
That’s exactly what transpired, with the frame Jones lost to Whelan earlier in the day ultimately proving to be the deciding factor in who went through.
There are only a few more days of Stage One before the full lineup for the last 32 will be confirmed.
After a brief respite on Sunday, it’ll be back to the baize on Monday when Stuart Bingham enters the fray in Group 11 alongside Jordan Brown, Mateusz Baranowski, and Mark Joyce.
Group 13 pits Zhou Yuelong against Ben Mertens, Liam Graham, and Allan Taylor.
Championship League Snooker represents the opening ranking event of the fledgling 2026/27 snooker season.
The overall winner on July 15th 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, July 4
Group 12 Results
Ali Carter 3-0 Patrick Whelan
Jamie Jones 3-1 Leone Crowley
Jamie Jones 3-1 Patrick Whelan
Ali Carter 3-1 Leone Crowley
Patrick Whelan 3-0 Leone Crowley
Ali Carter 2-2 Jamie Jones
Group 12 Table
1. Ali Carter – 7 points
2. Jamie Jones – 7 points
3. Patrick Whelan – 3 points
4. Leone Crowley – 0 points
Click here for more information about the tournament.
Group 19 Results
Anton Kazakov 3-1 Stephen Maguire
Robbie Williams 2-2 Ng On Yee
Robbie Williams 3-0 Anton Kazakov
Stephen Maguire 3-0 Ng On Yee
Ng On Yee 2-2 Anton Kazakov
Stephen Maguire 3-0 Robbie Williams
Group 19 Table
1. Stephen Maguire – 6 points
2. Robbie Williams – 4 points
3. Anton Kazakov – 4 points
4. Ng On Yee – 2 points
Featured photo credit: WST
