Graeme Dott beat Scott Donaldson 3-1 in the Group Two final to join Zhou Yuelong in Winners’ Group of BetVictor Championship League Snooker.
Dott came from 2-0 down to beat John Higgins 3-2 in the group semi-final at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes before winning the final having lost the opening frame to another of his fellow countrymen.
Donaldson has previously won both groups he’d played at the invitational form of BetVictor Championship League Snooker. In both Group Four and Winners’ Group last year he beat Graeme Dott in the final, but he wasn’t able to make it a hat-trick this time.
The younger of the two Scots drew first blood in the final thanks to a 55 break, but a 103 saw Dott level before the former World Champion made an 86 in the third to lead the best-of-five 2-1 and a 75 in the fourth confirmed his spot in March’s big-money Winners’ Group.
“He has beaten me a few times, he’s had my number in the Championship League,” said Dott, who collected a total of £6,200 from the group. “I played quite well tonight so I’m glad to get it done.
“I played well against John. I thought I played quite well on the first day of this group, but only two out of four games. Today I really struggled, the games against Gary Wilson and Scott in the group stage I was terrible. I had an hour’s rest, came back and practiced, and that helped tonight.”
BetVictor Championship League Snooker is an invitational event which is broadcast on Freesports in the UK, Zhibo.tv in China and on Matchroom.Live, among other international broadcasters.
Dott had come from two frames down to beat John Higgins 3-2 in his play-off semi-final, after Higgins had already topped his second consecutive group. Donaldson beat Matt Selt 3-0 in his play-off match.
Kyren Wilson will join Higgins, Selt and Donaldson in Group Three having finished fifth in Group Two, where they will be joined by newcomers Mark Selby, Tom Ford and Zhao Xintong on Friday. Gary Wilson and Stuart Bingham have been eliminated from the event having finished sixth and seventh respectively in the group.
BetVictor Championship League Snooker sees 25 of the game’s elite players compete for their share of a total prize pot of up to £205,000.
Group Three begins at 12.30pm on Friday. Live scoring can be found at www.worldsnooker.com. Group fixtures and results can be found at https://championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/
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