Snooker Championship League Winners Group 2016: Wednesday Results and Reaction

Ronnie O'Sullivan kicked off the winners' group of the 2016 Snooker Championship League on Wednesday with three wins from three. This year's Welsh Open winner thrashed Judd Trump before surviving against Mark Selby and then Stephen Maguire in the best-of-five-frames format.

O'Sullivan ended the day on top of the standings, putting himself in an excellent position to contest the semi-final stage.

Mark Williams earned his own hat-trick of wins during the first half of the round robin. But he was surprisingly whitewashed in his penultimate match of the night to ruin the chances of a perfect start.

Here are Wednesday's results from the winners' group:    

Player	Score	Player
Ronnie O'Sullivan	3-0	Judd Trump
Stephen Maguire	2-3	Mark Williams
Ronnie O'Sullivan	3-2	Mark Selby
Ali Carter	3-1	Matthew Selt
Judd Trump	3-1	Stephen Maguire
Mark Williams	3-0	Ali Carter
Ronnie O'Sullivan	3-2	Stephen Maguire
Matthew Selt	3-0	Mark Selby
Judd Trump	3-0	Mark Williams
Ali Carter	3-1	Mark Selby
Matthew Selt	0-3	Mark Williams
Stephen Maguire	3-2	Mark Selby

Here's what the winners' group standings look like after Wednesday's matches:

Player	Played	Won	Lost	Frames Won	Frames Lost	Points	Money Won
Ronnie O'Sullivan	3	3	0	9	4	3	£1800
Mark Williams	4	3	1	9	5	3	£1800
Judd Trump	3	2	1	6	4	2	£1200
Ali Carter	3	2	1	6	5	2	£1200
Matthew Selt	3	1	2	4	6	1	£800
Stephen Maguire	4	1	3	8	11	1	£800
Mark Selby	4	0	4	5	12	0	£1000x

For a look at Thursday's fixtures, go to LiveSnooker.com.

Recap

O'Sullivan wasn't troubled by Trump, but he certainly found Selby tough opposition. In fact, it took a deciding frame before the Rocket claimed victory.

O'Sullivan's dropping his first frame of the day prompted this sarcastic retort from Break-Off:

It was during the decider that Selby wasted a break of 58. It was a spurned chance that gave O'Sullivan the opportunity to clear up.

He duly obliged, as Live Snooker noted:

Things were tougher still when O'Sullivan met Stephen Maguire in his third outing of the day. Maguire was in no mood to be brushed aside, and the pair needed another decider to separate them:

O'Sullivan took that frame thanks to a high break of 38 as Maguire dropped his third straight match of the day. He's now a long shot to avoid finishing in the last two spots of the group, ensuring elimination.

Williams was also pushed to a decider by Maguire. A 3-0 whitewash of Ali Carter followed. Two breaks of 53 helped Williams grab the opening two frames, per the tournament's official site.

Yet, Williams' impressive start was quickly forgotten once Trump made lighting-fast work of seeing him off in the evening session. Live Snooker detailed just how swiftly Trump took down three straight frames:

But Williams recovered to dish out a 3-0 drubbing of his own, this one against Matthew Selt. A break of 64 stood out in the second frame.

Williams' meeting with O'Sullivan in the afternoon session is one of their highlights of Thursday's schedule. Both players have been dominant so far, but Selby's and Maguire's hopes already looked dashed.