Grove players were back in action this week at the EIS in Sheffield, and after the best-of-five PTC events there was a return to the best-of-17 marathons.

Liu Chuang and Jack Lisowski were both in round one and successfully negotiated their first-round opponents. Chuang beat Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo 9-4 and Jack won by the same scoreline – unfortunately at the expense of another Grove player, Zhang Anda.

Chuang then met Jimmy Michie, ranked 12 places above him at no 61 in the world, and won through 9-5.

Jack Lisowski met Matthew Selt in round two for another “Battle Of The Grove” and this was a close match until Matt pulled away to lead 8-5. Jack then won the next three frames but wasn’t able to snatch victory, Matt finishing the winner 9-8 late on Friday night.

Into round three and Chuang continued his winning ways with an excellent 9-5 victory against Alan McManus, ranked 26 places above him. Matt lost 6-9 though, to Dominic Dale.

Round four and Judd Trump secures his final place in the UK Championships proper up with a 9-7 win against Xiao Guodong. However Chuang’s excellent run comes to an end after losing a close match 9-8 against Ricky Walden.