Stuart Bingham and Elliot Slessor coast into Championship League last 32 with unbeaten powerhouse scoring show

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Stuart Bingham and Elliot Slessor enjoyed their own version of 'Super Saturday' at the Championship League in Leicester with both men topping their respective groups with a maximum haul of nine points. 2015 world champion Bingham made 102 against Halim Hussain in winning Group 11 at the city's Mattioli Arena with Slessor weighing in with a 115 against former world junior champion Stan Moody.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Stuart Bingham won his solitary world title a decade ago in Sheffield, but the 2015 Crucible winner has clearly not lost any of his powerhouse scoring ability when the mood takes him.

The man dubbed 'Ballrun' began his day at the Championship League with breaks of 83 and 102 in a 3-0 win over Halim Hussain.

He added 85 and 84 in easing to 3-0 win over Hatem Yassen before winning the Group 11 decider 3-1 against Antoni Kowalski with closing runs of 64 and 54 after the Polish hopeful had moved 1-0 clear with an 88 of his own.

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As it was, Bingham, who started the campaign as world No. 22, won the section by three points ahead of Kowalski in dropping only one frame in a display that illustrated his qualities.

Elliot Slessor was equally as effective in closing out Group 17 with three straight victories of his own against Mark Lloyd (3-1), Oliver Brown (3-0) and Stan Moody (3-1)

The world No. 29 compiled 96 and 74 against Lloyd, 52 against Brown and finished with 113 and 54 against former world junior champion Moody, who rolled in 97 in the third frame.

The action at the season's first ranking event continues on Monday when Ali Carter begins his title defence in Group 6 alongside Jack Bradford, Huang Jiahao and Liam Davies.

Meanwhile, former Scottish and Welsh Open champion Gary Wilson takes on women's world champion Bai Yulu in a Group 7 that also contains Amir Sarkhosh and Alex Clenshaw.

The Championship League runs between June 30 and July 23, with 32 groups of four producing 32 winners, who are then split into eight groups of four.

Two final groups of four will determine who contests the final on July 23, with the winner earning £33,000 and a place in the Champion of Champions event in Leicester in November.

Championship League group winners

Group 15: Stephen Maguire (Sco)
Group 26: Yao Pengcheng (Chn)
Group 3: Alfie Burden (Eng)
Group 22: Matthew Selt (Eng)
Group 25: Matthew Stevens (Wal)
Group 18: Yuan Sijun (Chn)
Group 28: Ricky Walden (Eng)
Group 9: Wu Yize (Chn)
Group 2: Zhang Anda (Chn)
Group 32: Ng On Yee (HK)
Group 11: Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Group 17: Elliot Slessor (Eng)

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