CLARKE AND MURPHY INTO WINNERS' WEEK AT BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER

Clarke was made to work hard for his first victory, but ultimately did enough with breaks of 50 and 62 enough to register a 3-0 whitewash against Sean O'Sullivan.

The Welshman could only manage a point against China's Peng Yisong in his next match, leaving a group decider against The Ace in the Pack Judd Trump. Clarke headed into it needing just a point against the 2019 world champion and current world number two, with Trump chasing a victory.

Clarke was able to hold off the usually dominant Trump, who couldn't find his form which took him the world championship final back in April, a hard-fought third frame went the way of Clarke thanks to a fluked red at match ball.

Speaking with Dave Hendon afterwards, he said: "I feel really good, obviously when you've got Judd [Trump] and a couple of other good players in your group you know it is going to be difficult.

"Preparation has been good, I've had about five or six sessions in the past 10 days, I came to Leicester yesterday and had a game against Joe O'Connor too. I wasn't playing my best but I'm just glad to get through.

"I'm 49th on the rankings at the start of this year, I've not got any real aims this season other than to win as many games as possible and go as deep at events as I can, and who knows; maybe even win a tournament."

Murphy had a tough start to his day, one in which he had to fight back from 2-1 down to secure a point against the impressive Ben Mertens with breaks of 79 and 54. The Magician showed his class in his next match against China's Xu Si, a 3-0 victory capped off with a century break of 109 to set up a must-win match against Liam Highfield. Mertens, opening his first season as a professional, had applied maximum pressure on the chasing Murphy - he ended his day unbeaten in addition to making his first professional century break (117) - anything other than a Murphy win would see the European Under 21 champion top Group 7. It wasn't to be as for Mertens, Murphy romped to victory over Highfield, a 3-0 win with breaks of 45, 144, and 103 more than enough to book his place in winners' week.

Group 16 headlines Table 1 on Wednesday, 20 July live on FreeSports, DAZN, Viaplay, and Matchroom.Live with Dave Gilbert, Joe O'Connor, Zak Surety, and Florian Nuessle with Group 19 live on YouTube from midday with Jordan Brown, Jimmy White, Mark Davis, and Ross Muir.