Championship League Group 7: Day 1

It's all to play for after day one of the seventh and final qualifying group at the Championship League as the seven remaining players battle to join Hawkins, Bingham, Carter, Mark Davis, Selt and Woollaston in the Winners Group which starts tomorrow.

David Gilbert and Fergal O'Brien had the best of things on day one, both winning three of their opening games with Gilbert playing three yesterday and O'Brien four. Xiao Guodong also had a pretty good opening day as he played three games and picked up a nice couple of wins, while Mark Williams won two and lost two of his four games played on day one to just sneak into the top four on day one. John Higgins and Peter Ebdon both struggled to get going yesterday, as neither could manage more than a solitary victory from their three games, though Higgins did lose in a couple of deciding frames which means his frames won column is looking good despite the loses. Propping up the table and really out of contention for a semi-final spot in the top four of the league table is Dominic Dale who couldn't manage a victory from any of his four games on day one, and two victories shouldn't be enough to break into the top four, so the Welshman is now only playing for pride.

Here is exactly what happened yesterday, courtesy of my notepad picture on what was a very even day:

 

 

So then, heading into the final day of the group 6 of the 7 players are still in with a decent chance of making the semi-finals by finishing in the groups top four. Fergal O'Brien probably only needs another win to fully secure his spot of his two remaining games, though even if he loses both games he should still scrape in. David Gilbert meanwhile having won all of his opening three games, only needs the one win from his last three to get into the semi-finals though a couple of wins could see him top the group which is always handy when it comes to the semi-finals. Xiao Guodong looks good but could still do with at least one win, and maybe two from his remaining three games while Mark Williams is in a similar boat, just with only the two games to go, but one win may just complete the job. John Higgins and Peter Ebdon struggled yesterday and that means they'll both need at least two wins from their last three games, but because of Ebdon's inferior frames won tally he may need a clean sweep of his matches today. As I said earlier in the piece Dominic Dale has no real hopes of getting through and less something extraordinary happens in the other games and he gets two convincing victories in last two matches.

 

 

 

As always i'll be back tomorrow with information on who won group 7 to take the final place in the Winners group, along with a very quick look ahead to the Winners Group itself and who I fancy to take the overall Championship League title and a place in the Champion of Champions next season.