Carter continues early season surge to reach Championship League final group stage

‘That’s brilliant’ – Carter hits great shot to pot the black from tough position

Ali Carter continued his impressive start to the new season with two century breaks helping him top Group E to reach the final stage of the Championship League in Leicester.

The two-time world finalist finished the section unbeaten with two 2-2 draws against second-placed Wu Yize boosted by a couple of 3-1 wins over ‘Jackpot’ Jack Lisowski.

Carter finished three points clear of Wu at the summit of a three-man section after 2010 world champion Neil Robertson withdrew from the event due to conflicting commitments in China.

The highlight of Carter’s day saw him produce breaks of 130 against Wu and 120 against Lisowski at the season’s first ranking event.

Meanwhile, Scott Donaldson won Group A on seven points with wins over Chris Wakelin (3-1) and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (3-0) and a 2-2 draw with Fan Zhengyi in the group decider at the Mattioli Arena.

Donaldson – who produced breaks of 106 and 81 against Wakelin – won the invitational version of the Championship League in 2020, but the Scotsman has dropped from 22nd in the world rankings to 51 in recent years.

2023 Championship League finalist Mark Williams returns to the table on Monday with Crucible runner-up Jak Jones and Si Jiahui also in action.

Stage one consisted of 32 groups of four players. The eight group winners contest a further two groups with the winners meeting in the final.

There is £33,000 on the table for the winner plus a spot in the Champion of Champions later in the year which is worth another £12,500 for qualifying.

Championship League: Last-32 group winners

Group B: David Gilbert (ENG)Group C: Long Zehuang (CHN)Group E: Ali Carter (ENG)Group A: Scott Donaldson (SCO)Championship League: First-stage group winners

Group 21: Neil Robertson (AUS)Group 11: Ryan Day (WAL)Group 4: Mark Williams (WAL)Group 17: Chris Wakelin (ENG)Group 25: Matthew Stevens (WAL)Group 31: Ashley Carty (ENG)Group 23: Michael White (WAL)Group 22: Joe O’Connor (ENG)Group 10: Jackson Page (WAL)Group 32: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA)Group 30: Jamie Jones (WAL)Group 29: Ben Woollaston (ENG)Group 8: Jak Jones (WAL)Group 7: Robbie McGuigan (NI)Group 24: Martin O’Donnell (Eng)Group 28: Wu Yize (CHN)Group 26: Alexander Ursenbacher (SUI)Group 27: David Lilley (ENG)Group 1: Scott Donaldson (SCO)Group 14: Hossein Vafaei (IRN)Group 18: Stuart Bingham (ENG)Group 13: Si Jiahui (CHN)Group 20: Stuart Carrington (ENG)Group 19: Long Zehuang (CHN)Group 6: Gary Wilson (ENG)Group 9: Ma Hailong (CHN)Group 2: He Guoqiang (CHN)Group 12: Jack Lisowski (ENG)Group 5: Ali Carter (ENG)Group 16: Fan Zhengyi (CHN)Group 3: Shaun Murphy (ENG)Group 15: David Gilbert (ENG)discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer