World champion Zhao Xintong suffered an early exit from the season’s opening ranking event after narrowly missing out on a place in the last 32 of the Championship League.
The tournament’s top seed finished behind David Grace in Group 1, with the Englishman progressing on frame difference after the pair ended their decisive encounter in a 2-2 draw.
Elsewhere, Zak Surety secured top spot in Group 32 with seven points to advance to the next stage of the competition in Leicester.
Zhao began his campaign in impressive fashion, recording a 3-0 victory over Simon Blackwell before defeating Gao Yang 3-1. However, the draw against Grace ultimately proved costly, as Grace’s two 3-0 victories over the same opponents gave him the superior frame difference required to win the group.
Despite the disappointment of failing to progress, Zhao produced some outstanding break-building throughout the day, compiling a superb 140 break against Blackwell and a century of 105 against Gao.
He also opened his match against Grace with a break of 139, but Grace, currently ranked world No. 74, claimed the final frame to secure the draw that earned him qualification for Group A, where the second phase begins at Leicester’s Mattioli Arena on Friday.
Grace will be joined in Group A by Surety, who booked his place after defeating Gong Chenzhi and Matthew Selt by identical 3-1 scorelines before drawing 2-2 with Andrew Higginson. Lio Hongyu and Lei Peifan complete the four-player group.
Although Zhao’s Championship League campaign has ended, his focus will soon shift to the race for the world No. 1 ranking. The Chinese star currently trails Judd Trump by 479,000 ranking points, but the gap could disappear in the coming weeks as Trump is due to lose 500,000 points following the Wuhan Open later this month.
A strong showing at both the China Open, scheduled for 8–16 August, and the Wuhan Open from 23–29 August could see Zhao climb to the top of the rankings for the first time. Neil Robertson, reigning world champion Wu Yize and John Higgins also remain in contention for the number one position.
Elsewhere in the Championship League, 2023 world champion Luca Brecel returns to action on Friday in Group B alongside Hossein Vafaei, Ian Burns and Pang Junxu.
Defending champion Stephen Maguire begins the defence of his title on Saturday in Group C, where he will face Gary Wilson, Stan Moody and Dylan Emery.
The winners of the competition’s 32 opening groups will progress to eight second-stage groups of four between 10 and 14 July, before the remaining qualifiers contest two final groups and the championship match on 15 July.
