Stuart Bingham sees off Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Championship League

Jamie Shaw in Championship League Snooker 10 June 2020

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Championship League Snooker Day Nine Preview and Order of Play: Winners’ Groups commence in Milton Keynes

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Judd Trump bows out of Championship League as Ryan Day and Luca Brecel progress to Final Group

Bingham downs The Rocket (Simon Cooper/PA Archive/PA Images

Stuart Bingham booked his place in the finals of the Championship League at the expense of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Sam Craigie in Milton Keynes on Tuesday.

Bingham, the 2015 World Champion, came out on top in Winners’ Group C by just a single frame in a three-way tie on six points.

His day got off to a bad start with a 3-1 defeat to in-form Sam Craigie – who had come through his phase one group on Monday night and picked up from where he left off with breaks of 60 and 86.

Bingham, however, rectified that result by brushing aside world number 84 Harvey Chandler 3-0 with breaks of 59, 71 and 56.

His third and final fixture came against Essex rival O’Sullivan – who entered the clash on the back of a five-game unbeaten run in which he had dropped just one frame.

The Rocket stormed through his opening group last week and continued in the same ruthless vein by thrashing Chandler 3-0 with breaks of 101, 68 and 104.

The five-time World Champion then overcame Craigie 3-1, extending his unbeaten run to 14 frames with a break of 95 before the youngster halved the deficit with a superb 97 break.

O’Sullivan sealed the deal in frame four and headed into his final match needing just two frames to progress to the next phase.

However, it was Bingham who took the initiative with a break of 71, before adding a 51 in frame two to double his lead and move within a frame of clinching top spot.

The world number 13 made no mistake in closing out the win as he compiled a break of 75 in the following frame to end O’Sullivan’s hopes of glory.

Craigie then secured the £2,500 runner-up bonus by powering past Chandler 3-0 with breaks of 62 and 67 along the way.

Meanwhile, Group D saw Ben Woollaston book his place in Thursday’s Champions Group by finishing top of Group D with six points.

The Leicester ace had enjoyed a superb run of form at the Marshall Arena, notably producing a hat-trick of century breaks (134, 101 and 127) on the way to a 3-0 win over Tom Ford.

He then replicated that scoreline against Liang Wenbo to edge out Martin O’Donnell by two frames on frames difference.

O’Donnell had beaten Woollaston in their opening group fixture before defeating Liang 3-1, but a 3-1 defeat to Ford in his final match proved fatal.

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