Kyren Wilson is having a big bite at the Championship this time definitely. He’s been phenomenal from the start of the tournament, whisking away every form of opposition on his way.

Putting things in perspective, he’s played twelve frames so far and come out tops in all twelve. The Kettering cueist is in the form of his life having reached the Championship final – only two months ago – where he bowed out to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Some would argue that mother luck backed the 28-year-old. Why wouldn’t they? Wilson’s group featured only three players, after the fourth player, Daniel Wells was forced out of the tournament following a COVID-19 positive test.

But there was some sort of improvising, wasn’t there? The Crucible runner up and every other player in the group had to play each player twice in the league play.

That didn’t send any whiff of fear Wilson’s way though as the 28-year-old coasted past his opponents to make it to the last-32. Wilson in fact drubbed Duane Jones twice by a 4-0 scoreline before doing the same twice against his other group opponent, Kuldesh Johal.

He came close to recording a maximum break but couldn’t hit the mark, no thanks to his attempt on the penultimate red. He’s on red hot form and has the potential of winning the Championship.

He’s now made his way to the second group phase and would play alongside other stars like Mark King, Scott Donaldson, and David Gilbert in Group F.

Elsewhere, Mark Davis also made a good mark, qualifying to the next group with seven points out of a possible nine.

Davis first dropped points in his first game, where he played out a 2-2 draw with Chang Bingyu. However, he picked up from there and battered Curtis-Barrett by a 4-0 scoreline. Davis wasn’t done then. He went ahead to do the same against former world number two, Ali Carter. What insolence! He was that good.

Carter was poor from the start of the Championship and had been beaten by a similar scoreline. But Davis added salt to the injury after compiling century breaks to send the former world number two home.

Written by: Roland Arum