Willo and Barry Pinches emerged the winners of their respective groups yesterday in Leicester.

Here is the report shared by WST

Flying Start For Williams

All-time great Mark Williams began his 32nd season as a professional by reaching the second stage of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker – Ranking Edition with a hat-trick of victories at the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Friday.

Williams, 48, completed a clean sweep in Group 6 by whitewashing fellow Welshman Dylan Emery 3-0 in his final match. He made two centuries and six half century breaks in the nine frames he won during a vintage display of potting and break-building.

The three-times world champion opened his account with a swift 3-0 defeat of Polish amateur Daniel Holoyda, helped by breaks of 101 and 78.

Williams then won the first frame against Ken Doherty on a re-spotted black before a second century, 121, put him 2-0 up. The Irishman dominated the third but Williams made 92 to wrap up a 3-1 victory.

Emery had beaten Doherty 3-0 and Holoyda 3-1 so could still win the group with victory over Williams, but experience told in the decisive match as the 24-time ranking event winner fired in contributions of 86, 92 and 56 to coast into the last 32.

“I’m a bit surprised because my cue hasn’t come out the case for a while, but I played good stuff,” said Williams, who headed to the airport to catch a flight to Ireland where his youngest son, Joel, is competing in a junior event.

“He’s enjoying it,” Williams said. “You never know, one day he might be good enough to turn pro, but he’s only ten so we’ll see if he sticks with it.”

On the other table, Norwich veteran Barry Pinches made his vast experience tell to finish top of Group 27.

The 52 year-old defeated Belgium’s Julien Leclercq 3-1 before earning a crucial 2-2 draw with the group’s top seed, Jordan Brown, by fashioning a 71 clearance in the fourth frame.

Pinches then beat Joshua Thomond 3-1 to put himself on seven points and ensure he could not be caught at the top of the table.

As you might guess, my main focus was on Julien Leclerc. Julien started slowly and hopefully, will learn from his match against Barry Pinches. This is typically the type of match he needs to learn to win but probably rarely experienced against other young players. Barry put him under pressure right from the start by punishing every mistake. He may not score (anymore) as heavily as some of the younger ones but he’s very clever, determined and vastly experienced. In second part of the day, Julien played better, won his two remaining matches and eventually finished second in the group.

At 48, Willo remains an extraordinary player and one I love to watch. He makes it look easy, he may not seem to care but his will to win is there, as strong as ever. He was sublime at times yesterday.