BINGHAM AND VAFAEI INTO WINNERS' WEEK AT BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER

Things didn't go to plan for the top seeded Bingham in the opening match, who found himself on the receiving end of a 3-0 Peter Devlin whitewash. Bingham rectified the wrongs in the opener by handing out a whitewash of his own to Peter Lines in his next match, breaks of 65 and 55 enough to secure his first three points of the group. The snooker gods were on the 2015 world champion's side as all other matches in his group ended in draws, meaning victory in Bingham's final match against Cao Yupeng would earn him a place in winners' week. At 2-0 Bingham looked to be cruising to his second whitewash victory of the day, but a routine green rattled the jaws of the pocket, allowing Cao to get back to the table and steal the third with a breaks of 38 and 25. Clearly stinging from his prior mistake, Ball Run composed himself in the deciding frame and secured victory with a 56 break to top Group 11. Speaking with Phil Yates afterwards, he said: "That was hard work today, I didn't get off to a good start against Peter Devlin, but credit to him he played well. "I gave myself a stern talking to, took myself out the venue and tried to calm myself down, it worked as I ended up producing some good snooker in the end. "I never make things easy [missing the green], I had one similar in the final frame that I made sure of making. It's all a learning curve at this point in the season."

Vafaei, fresh off the back of making his first career maximum break in his European Masters qualifier 24 hours prior, started the group in strong fashion beating Australia's Ryan Thomerson 3-0 with breaks of 55 and 70. The Iranian star then followed up with another comprehensive 3-0 victory over Hong Kong's Ng Ong Yee with breaks of 48 and 69 to set up a group decider against China's Tian Pengfei; Vafaei needing just a point to top the group. Pengfei started in fine form, and lead Vafaei 2-0 with breaks of 30 and 39 enough to leave the Iranian in must-win snooker territory with two to play. The reigning Shoot Out champion came out firing and secured the point needed, a crucial snooker in the third frame proving key in his quest for group-topping glory, and snatching that prize away from Pengfei.