Stephen Maguire made the perfect start to the BetVictor Championship League ranking event with a hat-trick of wins on the opening day to win Group 15, while tour rookie Yao Pengcheng earned a narrow victory in Group 26 in Leicester.
Maguire and Yao both go through to the second phase which starts on July 18th, when 32 players will be battling for places in the third and final stage.
Six-time ranking event winner Maguire opened with a 3-1 win over James Cahill, firing breaks of 99, 119 and 59. The Glaswegian went on to beat Liam Graham 3-0, and rounded off his day with a 3-0 success against Michael Holt, compiling runs of 74, 58 and 50.
Group 26 was much closer and came down to the final ball of the day. China's 28-year-old Yao, playing on the pro circuit for the first time having graduated from the CBSA Tour, opened with a 2-2 draw against Lyu Haotian then beat Jamie Jones 3-1, before drawing his last match 2-2 with Zhao Hanyang to finish with a total of five points.
Lyu beat Zhao 3-1 in his second match, which meant he needed only a draw against Jones in his last fixture, having made a higher top break than Yao, which would decide top spot if they were tied on points. From 2-0 down, Lyu made a 95 in frame three and then led 64-33 in the fourth, only for Jones to clear from the last red and snatch the frame on the final black to win 3-1. That left both Lyu and Jones on four points, one behind Yao.
The action continues on Tuesday with Shaun Murphy the star name in Group 3, while Matthew Selt is top seed in Group 22.
