So far, most groups in stage 2 at the 2024 Ranking CLS were tightly contested. This isn’t particularly surprising given that the players involved all won their group in stage one and are sharp. Yesterday was no different and here is the report by WST:

WILLIAMS THROUGH WITH LATE WIN

Mark Williams scored a vital 3-0 victory over Si Jiahui in the last match of Group D at the BetVictor Championship League to earn a place in the final phase.

The three-time Crucible king will be back in action on Wednesday in Leicester alongside Long Zehuang, David Gilbert, Ali Carter, Scott Donaldson, Martin O’Donnell and two more players. The winners of the last two groups will contest the final on Wednesday night.

Remarkably, the first eight matches played on Monday finished in 2-2 draws, leaving Groups D and H finely poised heading into the last set of fixtures. Williams, seeking a 27th career ranking title, compiled breaks of 90 and 87 in drawing 2-2 with Stuart Carrington, then made a 130 in taking a 2-0 lead over Ben Woollaston, only for his opponent to fight back to level.

Woollaston then beat Carrington 3-1, which meant Williams had to win his closing tie to top the table. And the Welshman comfortably saw off Si with a top run of 96.

In Group H, O’Donnell let slip a 2-0 lead in his first match against Matthew Stevens, finishing 2-2. He then fell 1-0 behind against Jak Jones but hit back with superb breaks of 138 and 133 to lead 2-1, before losing the last frame. In his last match, Welsh Open finalist O’Donnell made a crucial colours clearance in the final frame to beat Ma Hailong 3-1.

Jones and Stevens still had the chance to top the group by winning their contest, but they finished 2-2 to leave O’Donnell on top.

As always you will find the detailed results on snooker.org

Both Si and Ma looked tired in their last match. These are long days at the CLS. You may expect that the young ones will star fresher and be be more “resilient” to fatigue than the older ones but actually that’s not the case, and it is the same in more physical sports as well. Very rarely will you see a young athlete win a marathon. Most top marathon runners are in their thirties and there is no other physical “endurance” sport that is more demanding physically. Maybe in snooker it’s more a case of “managing” your blood sugar levels and stay fresh in your mind and keep your focus but all the same, there is a “learning curve”.

Willo really is one of a kind. No matter what is at stakes, matching him play you’d think he’s knocking a few balls in a friendly down the club.