Teenager Stan Moody wins group to advance at Championship League Snooker

Moody and Liu - both searching for their maiden ranking event title - progress to the last 32 of the competition that will be played at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester later this month.

English prospect Moody finished top of Group 30 undefeated with seven points.

The top seed in his pool, the 19-year-old - who made his Crucible debut back in the spring - began his campaign with a 2-2 draw against Thailand's Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon.

Having seen Thirapongpaiboon win his second match of the day with a 3-0 victory over Daniel Wells, Moody returned for the late afternoon/evening session knowing that he had to take full points against Stuart Carrington in order to keep his qualification destiny in his own hands. That's exactly what he did - and in style - as he fashioned runs of 135, 104, and 56 in a 3-0 win.

As recent Asia-Oceania Q School graduate Thirapongpaiboon drew his final outing with Carrington, Moody knew that a share of the spoils with Wells in his last outing would be enough to secure top spot and a berth in stage two.

Moody collected the point he needed at the first possible avenue as efforts of 73 and 59 helped him to a 2-0 lead. Wells took the third frame, but a 70 assisted Moody in claiming the last for a 3-1 win.

On the main table at the Mattioli, world number 58 Liu produced the right result at the right time to win Group 17.

It was looking like home city player and top seed for the pool Joe O'Connor was going to be the name going through after he registered 3-0 victories over Paul Norris and Oliver Brown for maximum points.

However, 21-year-old Liu put himself in the qualification picture with four points following a 2-2 draw with Brown and a 3-0 win over Norris.

The final tie of the day involved the only two players who could now win the group. Last year’s runner-up in this tournament O'Connor required only a draw, but only a win would do for Liu.

Chinese cueist Liu deposited the opening frame and then doubled his lead with a break of 121. O'Connor notched up the third to set up a de facto deciding frame which Liu took by 82 points to 1 to qualify.