World champion Kyren Wilson was dumped out of the Championship League at the first group stage as world No. 51 Scott Donaldson earned a 2-2 draw to top Group 1 in Leicester.
Scotsman Donaldson secured the point he needed against Wilson at the season’s first ranking event with breaks of 88 and 101 cancelling out an opening 79 from the Kettering player, who won the fourth frame with a knock of 111 to finish two points behind the group winner.
Wilson had earlier drawn 2-2 with Daniel Womersley before defeating Baipat Siripaporn 3-0, with Donaldson easing past Baipat 3-0 and Womersley 3-1 to leave himself chasing a draw to progress.
But Iran’s leading player Hossein Vafaei had no such trouble as he secured three straight wins over Josh Mulholland (3-0), Manasawin Phetmalaikul (3-1) and Louis Heathcote (3-0) to qualify for the second group phase.
Former world champion Stuart Bingham is in action on Friday in Group 18, with former Crucible semi-finalist Si Jiahui taking to the table in Group 13.
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.
Championship League: Latest group winners
- Group 21: Neil Robertson (AUS)
- Group 11: Ryan Day (WAL)
- Group 4: Mark Williams (WAL)
- Group 17: Chris Wakelin (ENG)
- Group 25: Matthew Stevens (WAL)
- Group 31: Ashley Carty (ENG)
- Group 23: Michael White (WAL)
- Group 22: Joe O’Connor (ENG)
- Group 10: Jackson Page (WAL)
- Group 32: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA)
- Group 30: Jamie Jones (WAL)
- Group 29: Ben Woollaston (ENG)
- Group 8: Jak Jones (WAL)
- Group 7: Robbie McGuigan (NI)
- Group 24: Martin O’Donnell (Eng)
- Group 28: Wu Yize (CHN)
- Group 26: Alexander Ursenbacher (SUI)
- Group 27: David Lilley (ENG)
- Group 1: Scott Donaldson (SCO)
- Group 14: Hossein Vafaei (IRN)