Donaldson Wins Group Five
Scott Donaldson won Group Five of the BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational by beating Jordan Brown 3-2 in the group final at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
Brown was a late addition to the tournament replacing Mark Selby in Group Five and made the most of it in the group stage, racking up 16 frames to top the group and earn a semi-final meeting with Ali Carter. Donaldson had claimed the group’s high break (132) and did enough to clinch a last four clash with Kyren Wilson.
Brown made breaks of 33 and 38 in the opening frame against Carter, before a run of 80 quickly made it 2-0. The job was done for Brown in the third, with a break of 67, to meet the winner of Wilson and Donaldson in the final.
Donaldson fired in a fine break of 130 in the first frame, but was pegged back in the second by Wilson’s 85. Donaldson moved ahead once again with 75 in the third, before Wilson forced a decider. It was Perth’s Donaldson who showed his steel by conjuring a winning contribution of 77.
When it came to the final, the opening two frames were shared to leave the clash finely poised. A run of 64 saw Brown move 2-1 ahead, before Donaldson claimed the fourth with a break of 60 to ensure a decider. He wrapped it up with a break of 88 that started out with a fluked red.
Donaldson said: “I am enjoying being healthy and being able to enjoy my snooker. My game has been good for a while since October. I am relaxed out there when playing. It was a good result for me. I just want to enjoy playing and winning.”
Wilson, Carter, and Gould will all return in Group 6 alongside Yan Bingtao, Ding Junhui, and Ricky Walden who will join the competition. Gilbert and Lu were both eliminated after taking sixth and seventh spots, respectively.
Each of the seven players faces each other once in the round-robin group stage, after which the top four players in the league table progress to the play-offs. The eventual group champion advances to February’s Winners’ Group with the remaining players who finished in the top five during the league phase continuing to Group Five which begins tomorrow when three new players join the tournament. The bottom two players in each group phase are eliminated. All matches are best of five.
The tournament carries a prize fund of £205,000 with players earning £100 per frame won with significant bonuses for their final group position and increased prize money in the Winners’ Group. A place in the 2022 Cazoo Champion of Champions is also on the line with each group featuring seven players with matches being held over two days.
The 2022 BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational returns with Group 6 on Monday 17, January from 11 am on FreeSports in the UK and Ireland as well as networks worldwide. Table 2 is available globally on Matchroom.Live excluding the Nordic and Baltic regions.
Where to WatchÂ
- Foxtel – Australia
- FreeSports – UK and Ireland
- Nova – Czech Republic & Slovakia
- NTV – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenia, and Uzbekistan
- Sky Network – New Zealand
- SuperSport – Africa
- Sportklub – Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, and Slovenia
- TVP – Poland
- Viaplay – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
- Viaplay – Iceland
- Viaplay – Scandinavia
- Zhibo.TV – China
- Matchroom.Live – Table 1 is available exclusively to those outside of the countries listed above. Table 2 will be available live on Matchroom.Live excluding the Nordic and Baltic regions
- The tournament will also be live on betting websites around the world