GILBERT AND BROWN THROUGH TO WINNERS' WEEK AT BETVICTOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER

Gilbert's day got off to the perfect start, a 3-0 win over Austria's Florian Nuessle capped off with a break of 58 to take home the three points on offer. The Angry Farmer then repeated his opening feat, beating Zak Surety 3-0 with breaks of 50 and 78 to put the defending champion in pole position heading into his final match against Leicester's Joe O'Connor. Gilbert couldn't keep his perfect record going against O'Connor, having to settle for a hard-fought 2-2 draw, but thanks to breaks of 78 and 100 it was more than enough to book his place into winners' week. Speaking with Dave Hendon afterwards he said: "It's a weird one being back, my game isn't very good at the minute but I'm really happy to get through. "I've not put much preparation in for this season yet, I've been playing lots of pool, I just want to buy a pool club if I'm honest with you. "The aim for this year, and every year, is to try and get in the Players Championship." Northern Ireland's Brown, starting his season as a new father, opened his 2022/23 campaign with a 2-2 draw against Ross Muir and two excellent century breaks (115, 100). Brown then picked up his first win of the season, coming in a 3-1 victory over Mark Davis with breaks of 68, 48, and 47. Group 19 was earlier reduced to a three-man group due to Jimmy White's late withdrawal due to travel issues, meaning repeat fixtures to maintain the original group format; but the change did anything but affect Brown who whitewashed Ross Muir in their second meeting of the day. It left a group decider between Brown and Davis in the final match of the day, with Brown needing just one frame to secure passage into winners' week. The former Welsh Open champion went one better in drawing 2-2 and maintaining his unbeaten record in Group 19.