The 2024 ranking CLS stage 1 continued on Friday with group 8 and group 21, and yesterday with group 4 and group 30. As usual you will find all the results on snooker.org.
Hereafter, the reports by WST:
Liu And Ford Top Tables
China’s 21-year-old Liu Hongyu was the stand-out player in Group 21 of the BetVictor Championship League in Leicester as he booked a place in the second stage.
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Liu and Tom Ford are through to the last 32 of the season’s first ranking event and will return to the Mattioli Arena later this month.
After beating Ian Burns 3-0 in his opening match with breaks of 89, 55 and 104, Liu saw off Patrick Whelan 3-1 with a top run of 133. In his last match of the day he fired breaks of 93 and 89 in a 2-2 draw with Noppon Saengkham as he comfortably finished top of the table.
Group 8 was far closer and came down to the last few frames. Shoot Out champion Ford drew 2-2 with Simon Blackwell then beat Mink Nutcharut 3-0 with a top break of 132. He needed to avoid defeat in his last fixture against Allan Taylor and managed a 2-2 draw which left him level on points with Blackwell but just ahead on frame difference.
Ace Artemijs Knocks Out Si
Artemijs Zizins beat three players, including world number 15 Si Jiahui, to top Group 4 at the BetVictor Championship League and reach the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time.
Latvia’s 19-year-old Zizins, who turned pro in 2024, was in superb form throughout the day in Leicester, winning nine frames and conceding just one. He’s through to the second phase which starts on July 18th.
A break of 92 helped Zizins beat Farakh Ajaib 3-1 and he then then saw off Kayden Brierley 3-0. Si could still have snatched the group by winning his last match, but he was no match for Zizins who strolled to a 3-0 success with top runs of 75 and 74.
Robbie Williams topped Group 30 thanks to a fine late win over Ben Woollaston. Williams top scored with 110 in a 3-0 defeat of Florian Nuessle then drew 2-2 with Iulian Boiko. Woollaston was in the driving seat having won his first two matches, but Williams came from 1-0 down to beat him 3-1 with breaks of 72, 60 and 53.
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I almost exclusively watched Artemijs Zizins yesterday and I was well impressed by how much he has progressed over the last year.
The day before was disappointing for me: Mink showed no form at all but then maybe she had just returned from Thailand and was still tired from the travel and jet lagged? I do perfectly understand why those players from Asia, who spend most of the year away from their families and friend, would want to make the most of the summer break and stay with their loved ones for as long as possible.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Ronnie v Jimmy exibition just under 2 weeks later…
That’s three days before the 2025 Shanghai Masters. I see this a good news because it means that Ronnie will arrive in China early, with a few days to adapt to the time difference.