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

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.

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Championship League: Last-32 group winners Championship League: First-stage group winners

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.