MARK WILLIAMS AND GARY WILSON INTO WINNERS' WEEK

Williams started the day out in Group 5 with a comprehensive showing against Rory McLeod in a 3-1 win. The best of Williams' opening exchange was a break of 65 in the second frame. Li Hang started out his day with victory over Andrew Pagett 3-1 before a draw with McLeod left the Chinese cueist top of the group heading into the evening session. At the top of the evening session, Williams got one over his compatriot Pagett in a whitewash win which saw him make his biggest break of the day for 75. The Welsh Potting Machine's six points from two matches put him two clear and needed only a point against Li to pass through to the second stage. Li meanwhile needed all three points. Pagett got on the board for the first time to beat McLeod 3-0 and take third place. In the group decider, Li took the opener after a break of 77 but Williams hit back with his own 50+ break of 64 to level things and be one away from Winners' Week. Two points separated Williams and Li in the third frame at 53-51 in the Welshman's favour. A brief safety exchange went in Li's favour who got back to the table after an unlikely Williams miss but with a miss on the pink, Williams potted pink and black to progress. Williams wrapped up three wins from three for maximum points with a clearance of 140, the highest of the tournament so far. "I am quite happy with how the day went with three wins out of three. He hits the ball lovely, nice, and smooth. I don't know why he hit it so hard. It was a tricky pink that I had in the middle. I am through to the next group now. I am over the moon I got through. I am over the moon with the way I played." Group 28 with Wilson, Jak Jones, Barry Pinches, and Harvey Chandler also came down to the last match with Jones and Wilson level pegging up until that point. Early on, Wilson got the better of Chandler 3-0 before Jones pulled in one and three points from matches with Pinches and Chandler respectively. Wilson got the evening action underway against Pinches in a two-all draw after he had led the Canarian 2-0. The last of the day's action saw Wilson and Jones doing battle for a spot in the next stage which gets underway on Monday, 25 July and it was Wilson who took the initial advantage with a comprehensive first frame 92-0. A 62 from Wilson in the second put him one away from the next stage whilst Jones needed the next two. The Warrior had a calm presence around the table though and he wrapped up with a final clearance of 115.